Email ElizabethW X Downtown Freeway Closing Coming to Land Park
Highways and roads in Sacramento like the W X freeway, for the most part, are in far better shape than say those in Minnesota. There is a standing joke in Minnesota that there are two seasons in that state: winter and road construction. But we don’t have to deal with huge potholes and overpasses collapsing in Sacramento, just the impatient jerk-offs who tailgate.
A jerk almost hit me while my husband and I were at PetSmart in Natomas this week. Apparently, this guy in a white pickup truck thought my husband was driving too slowly, so he sped around us. My husband honked at him because he should not have passed us doing 55 in the parking lot entrance. Then, as we were walking in the crosswalk up to the sidewalk of the shopping center, the pickup truck circled back around and missed hitting my huge butt within inches as it zoomed by again. Looked like it was on purpose to me.
I realize that the Natomas Marketplace can drive just about any sane person crazy but this was a bit nutty. Hey buddy, it’s not our fault your wife left you, your dog hates you and you’re out of Budweiser.
Just wait until the construction begins, though, on the W X freeway closing in Sacramento in a few months. They call it the W X freeway because it parallels W and X Streets. During May and June, we’ll have lane closures, from 14th Street to 26th Street, which stretches through downtown / Midtown / Land Park and Curtis Park. Caltrans is spending $46 million to fix the crosstown highway. Plans are to alternate lane closures in one direction at a time, so some hours eastbound traffic will have more lanes than westbound, and vice versa.
I wish the WX freeway closing would fix that horrible onramp problem at Riverside. My neighbor’s husband in Land Park was killed in a terrible traffic accident while merging at that spot. He crashed into a telephone company cable truck and died instantly. When merging from the Riverside onramp, you’re fighting traffic in the right lane, which is trying to get off on Highway 99; the middle lanes are heading for Interstate 80 and the far left lanes to Highway 50. This interchange is a nightmare.
It’s not much better merging to get off heading westbound to Land Park from Business 80, either, and trying to exit on 16th Street or 10th Street. My husband won’t even drive in that direction because he doesn’t want to merge and take a chance on death. He exists on 26th. I’m more of a risk taker, and my Porsche has more horsepower than his Prius, so I’ll do it, but I don’t much like it either. You’ve got to speed up to cross, and sometimes the traffic in front of you is at a dead stop. But that’s the beauty of living in Sacramento, more people = more problems.
I usually drive from my home in Land Park to my real estate office at Lyon in Midtown Sacramento in 8 minutes by taking the W X Freeway and cutting over to Business 80, but now I guess I’ll use the surface streets. Another minute or two on my travel time is not gonna kill me, but getting on the W X freeway closing might.
The Consequences When Buyers Write Multiple Offers
When sellers discover that a buyer’s agent had allegedly written multiple offers for Sacramento home buyers — both of which were accepted — it can be normal for sellers to want to express outrage and direct those feelings toward the buyers. Because the buyers should not play games, the sellers might say. The sellers might feel deceived, believe the buyers are dishonest, when all the buyers are really doing is following the ill advice of their buyer’s agent.
Some brokerages in Sacramento recommend this practice, I hear. I can’t believe that any reputable real estate brokerage would advise their agents to write multiple offers for buyers but I don’t know what goes on inside every brokerage in town. I know what Lyon Real Estate lawyers advise, and that is: don’t write multiple offers. They say there is a good faith covenant inherent in the residential purchase agreement that could be breached if a buyer can’t afford to own both homes and tries to simultaneously purchase.
Now, if a buyer came to me and said, for example, that the wife wants to buy one home but the husband has his eyes on another home, I would never in a million years tell those buyers to write offers on both homes and then decide later. Yet, that is what can happen in Sacramento. Nope, I would say go home and sleep on it and if you lose both homes because somebody else steps in while you’re deciding, that’s the way life is. Or, write an offer on the home you like best right now.
But that’s just how this Sacramento real estate agent operates. I try to give my sellers the best advice available and, at my age and experience level, I better be right. My reputation and credibility are at stake, not to mention, buyers who write multiple offers could get sued by an irate and damaged seller. It will happen someday. Mark my words, and then buyers will be crying at their agent and asking why, why did you tell me to do this?
Hope the agent’s E&O is paid up.
Granite Bay Home for $12 Million or East Sacramento Home?
Who would pay nearly $1,000 per square foot for a home in Sacramento? That’s the question many are wondering, I imagine, when they see the 12,600-foot home once owned by Eddie Murphy in Granite Bay is on the market for $12 million. And let’s not even think about all of the upgrades one would need to do and how much that would cost. Everybody wants to add their own special touch, because a buyer would probably feel compelled to swap those purple marble floors for perky pink and then add that missing bowling alley. All that money adds up.
Like the listing agent says, we should get our heads out of the hard clay soil in Sacramento and look at this from a global perspective. Sheiks, princesses, oil heirs, they could all come running to homes in Granite Bay because, um, it’s so close to Lake Tahoe and let’s not forget, a limousine ride away from the San Francisco airport. All good reasons, as we Sacramentans know, to live in Sacramento.
But if you can’t afford to buy a home in Granite Bay, why not look at a more modest abode? How about a stunning 1941 home that also sits on a hill yet near McKinley Park in East Sacramento? This home is very affordable at $399,000. Think of the money you’ll save. It features 2 spacious bedrooms with hardwood floors, generously large windows, overhead fans and roomy closets. The kitchen is updated, ceramic tile, newer cabinets, a creamy white dishwasher, gas range and free-standing refrigerator, plus there is space for a table and a towel warming drawer, if one so desires.
You’ll discover period tile in the bath, an original tub and a separate shower, including extra storage in both the bath and the hall. This East Sacramento home boasts an indoor laundry room and ?best of all the washer and dryer remain. There is even a sink in the laundry room for heavy duty dirt, perhaps tracked in from the back-yard garden. The lot is deep, and at the back fence line sits a free-standing storage shed. Wait until spring, and you’ll spot many fruit trees in bloom such as orange, lemon, apricot and loquat. A one-car garage is attached for your convenience.
675 40th Street, Sacramento, CA 95819 is offered exclusively by your East Sacramento real estate agent Elizabeth Weintraub at Lyon Real Estate at $399,000. Call 916-233-6759 for a private showing.
Working With Tenants To Sell a Rental Home in Sacramento
Not every tenant ends up being a nightmare or terrible problem when selling a rental home in the Sacramento region. In fact, some tenants can be a huge blessing in disguise. I often prefer to have tenants in the home if at all possible for several reasons. First, I don’t worry nearly as much about vandalism when the when I’m selling a rental home is that occupied. Second, having furniture in the marketing photos makes the home seem more alive and it shows better.
Sure, you hear horror stories about tenants who refuse to move upon sale or those who believe the world revolves around them and the out-and-out jerks. These types can cause problems by lying about the condition of the home to prospective buyers, refusing to show the property at the times they promised and not picking up after themselves when buyers do come through. As a Sacramento real estate agent, I’ve dealt with uncooperative tenants of rental homes who bolted the door from the inside, turned the pit bulls loose and then slipped a note under the door threatening physical bodily harm if agents entered.
Fortunately, most of the tenants I work with are very accommodating. Part of that reason is because I treat them with respect. It might be my Sacramento listing and the seller’s property, but the house is the tenant’s home. I am grateful when a tenant grants me the privilege of entrance so I can take photographs of the interior, and I verbally share that sentiment. I say please and thank you. I acknowledge graciousness. And I go to great lengths to protect the tenant’s privacy.
See, I think when you deal with other people the way you would like to be treated, they generally respond in kind. If a real estate agent starts out on the wrong foot, making false assumptions and behaving as though she is at odds, on the opposite side of the fence, tenants might not want to cooperate. They might even retaliate.
I often ask sellers to give the tenants a small financial incentive to cooperate with showings. After all, what’s in it for the tenant? Tenants are generally inconvenienced, they don’t stand to make any profit when the home is sold, and let’s face it, some real estate agents can be very pushy. You know it and I know it. I try to save the tenants from that kind of obtrusive and sometimes abrasive invasion.
Just being nice to people can go a long ways. There is no reason, even in the face of adversity and unwarranted criticism, to act otherwise. If you want to sell a rental home in Sacramento, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
About Southwest Pilots Who Landed at the Wrong Missouri Airport
Do you think the public is being a little hard on those poor Southwest pilots who landed at the wrong airport in Missouri? OK, granted, the captain almost ran off the runway, but the fact is he didn’t. Why are people talking about all the things he didn’t do? Maybe he forgot to comb his hair that day but if he looks like George Clooney, who cares?
Sure, there was a little bit of rubber burning and hand clenching upon landing, no doubt, but at least the brakes were applied with force. We all make mistakes. And let’s face it, Missouri is the kind of place where it might be easy to get lost, what with people whose motto is show me. Don’t they know where they are going? It’s just a big ol’ square with a tail in the middle of the United States.
Haven’t you even gotten into your car to, say, drive to a friend’s house and wondered why you were instead headed off to work? Be honest. We all do it. OK, maybe I am only the driver in Sacramento who speeds up to shoot way over across all of those lanes on the W/X freeway from Riverside and, before she realizes it, discovers she is heading out I-80 instead of Highway 50, or vice versa.
When you list homes all over Sacramento like this real estate agent, it can happen. Which is why I have a new system that prevents it. I repeat to myself which freeway I need to travel before I embark on the journey. Interstate 80 or Highway 50? I know the answer when I leave my office.
Sometimes, though, our cars just take the path of least resistance, the path most often traveled, and there’s not a lot we can do about it, especially if we’re yakking away on our Bluetooth device about Sacramento real estate. I might initially intend, for example, to go to PetCo, which is east of me, and find myself driving north to my office. It happens when our minds are preoccupied, and it’s not necessarily an age-related thing.
Maybe those Southwest pilots were playing Angry Birds when they landed at the wrong airport. It can happen, just saying. Of course, I am not a passenger on Southwest who expected to arrive at a different destination. It would be like expecting to land in Sacramento but finding myself in San Diego. But both cities start with an S. I suppose that I can see the similarities if I squint really hard and sing at the top of my voice Leaving on a Jet Plane.
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