Email ElizabethThe Top 5 Real Estate Brokers in Sacramento
If you’ve ever wondered who are the top real estate brokers in Sacramento and our four-county area, the first place a person who is not in the business would look is the number of real estate signs in any given community. You will see Lyon Real Estate’s red-and-white signs everywhere. There is a reason for that.
On top of them are often SOLD sign riders. Sometimes we sell homes so quickly that there is not enough time to plop a sold sign on the post before the sign company comes out to remove the sign. Sometimes we run out of SOLD signs, too. Sometimes sellers want backup offers and don’t want others to know the home is sold. There is one thing you can pretty much count on though, and that’s the home will be sold. Look at this market leader chart below, covering our four-county area in Sacramento as of November of 2013:
The fact is a lot of inventory on the market in Sacramento is overpriced, maybe half of it, in what limited inventory we have. That means some sellers are realistic about what they can get because their homes are selling and some sellers are not. Some sellers will need to wait for a better real estate market, if there is such an animal, in which to sell.
Some buyers think we’re stuck back in 2010 with low prices, too. They don’t like to see prices going up, and they don’t want to pay them. So, the buyers who are closing escrow are the buyers who are meeting market value, and the sellers who are selling are those who are selling at market value. Nobody is really “winning.” That combination is difficult to put together in this market, and it’s becoming more difficult, even for us top producers, but that’s where we shine the brightest!
Who says you have to win? Some buyers just want a nice home and roof over their heads before the rains start.
It doesn’t mean the sky is falling or prices are falling or the market is going to hell in a hand basket, it means we have to work smarter and, yes, harder, as real estate agents to continue to provide excellent service for our clients. We can’t just stick a sign in the yard. But on top of this, there are still plenty of good reasons why sellers choose a Lyon Real Estate agent over any other real estate agent in the Sacramento area. They are illustrated above.
Does Anybody Care Who is the Top Real Estate Agent?
I was out a little late last night doing my second job, which is swimming as a mermaid at the Dive Bar downtown Sacramento. You think that’s the same mermaid in the fish tank night after night, well, I’ve got news for you. Have you ever stood up on the bar and cupped your eyeballs against the fish tank to verify that? Ha, I didn’t think so. And besides, that’s not really my second job, that’s Myrl Jeffcoat in a wig, just ask her.
But whatever I was dreaming about last night, I woke up late this morning. The cats were sequestered and obviously fed because they were quiet. We recently had replaced all of the doors in our house, so with some of the doors closed, I can’t hear a thing from another room in my bedroom. Asteroids could be blasting through the ceiling and tearing holes through the living room floor, and I would sleep through it. Which, by the way, just when you thought we were in the clear and not about to encounter any asteroids in our lifetime, we find out there are millions more — more than 10 times as many as we originally estimated — of undiscovered asteroids speeding toward our two-car garages about to hit Earth at any time and squash us like the pinheads we are.
Whose fault is that? Obviously, it’s the Russians. I grew up in the 1950s and I know where to point the fingers of blame.
But I’m getting ahead of myself here. What I meant to talk about before I got so carried away is when I stumbled out of bed, rubbing my sorry eyes and realizing that for the first time in a week my jaw did not ache, although, I did leave the refrigerator door open after filling my water bottle at midnight, and it was open all night, even though it has a warning sound when left ajar, and this was the reason my husband elected to take this point in time to provide a lecture about energy costs and global warming and asking if my mother raised me in a barn, I spotted an email on my computer with a bunch of exclamation points in my inbox.
It stood out amidst the sea of morning emails like a sore thumb. It was titled: Hooray. From my transaction coordinator. My heart leaped a little bit, and I tuned out husband talking for a moment. The email was filled with heart-shaped words and uplifting praise. For just a moment, I allowed myself to feel a smattering of joy. It is possible? Could it be true? My eyes frantically searched the flowering language for the phrase I was so filled with mouth-watering anticipation to read.
It wasn’t there. This was NOT a short sale approval for a particular short sale in Natomas, for which we’ve been tirelessly fighting for forever and know from the bottom of my heart that one day it will happen.
Nope, wasn’t it. Darn, darn!
It was something else less expected. Something that has been happening once or twice a year for a little while now but is still very unexpected when it does occur.
I thought, what? Is Marilyn Goff on vacation? She’s not even in the top 3 agents for the month. Look, here’s #2 and #3. Yikes.
For the month of October 2013, Elizabeth Weintraub is the #1 real estate agent at Lyon Real Estate.
Sacramento Real Estate, TMJ and Linda Ronstadt’s Book
If I had to do it over again, I would not have let the dentist yank out 2 upper molars and 2 lower teeth at the same time. This is a person, mind you, who back in her youth had one wisdom tooth at a time extracted, yet, when it comes to implants, I tell them the more the merrier, just rip ’em all out. Hello, TMJ? I share this bit of over-the-top information with my readers so if you are ever in the same boat, and we are all getting older in this life, remember my advice.
Contessa the Ocicat
Yet, I still continue to work because the work is there and my clients count on me. I’m also addicted to real estate, as my husband will attest. Just because I’m staggering around the house like Dr. House, popping Vicodin and kicking little kittens to the wall with my cane, doesn’t mean I’m not hard at work, either. For proof, here is a photo of our new kitten, Tessa. Oblivious to the fact her toothless mom is in agony.
I can’t really concentrate on the agony or feeling sorry for my miserable self when there is so much going on. Despite everything, I managed to sell two homes: a home in Elk Grove and another in the Med Center. I also listed two homes, a condo in Arden Arcade area and a fixer in South Sacramento.
Then, yesterday, a third-party vendor for Bank of America called. I realize they have to read scripts and are reined in so tightly their elbows rub their cubicle desk-mates’, but they don’t have to talk like Lily Tomlin doing Ernestine. Fortunately, I have my iPad next to me in bed, where I was resting my jaw and could look up all of the information requested. The negotiators now call to let agents know that they’ve uploaded a counter offer in Equator. The used to just send an unending series of emails, but now they also call.
The counter offer was missing the payoff to the second. This was not a case of a miraculous second mortgage release. The second was still secured to the property. It also missed authorization for documentary transfer stamps. I could issue a counter to the negotiator’s counter, but see, then I’m labeled a troublemaker and they get irritated. It’s a lot more interesting to simply accept the counter and then point out the mistakes. Think about it. I’m just trying to comply with their wishes. I can’t help their bozo factor.
We now wait for the negotiator to fix the errors on her end so we can move forward. It’s not like this short sale will have its approval delayed because of this tactic because we’ve still got lovely Green Tree to contend with. Green Tree, if it wants to, can take 90 days to approve. I still close many short sales in Sacramento, although the volume of short sales has decreased and the volume of regular sales has increased dramatically this year, yay!
I have also managed to squeeze in some reading. Just finished downloading and reading Linda Ronstadt’s book, Simple Dreams . Simply put, it’s a simple book. If you’re looking for insight into Linda Ronstadt, what she thinks, hopes, her aspirations, opinions, dreams, any specific details from her life, you won’t get it from this book. It’s possible she has nothing to share. I read the book wondering didn’t she ever date anyone? Jerry Brown, for example? There was a photo of them running on the beach.
My husband and I saw Linda Ronstadt perform in January of 2009 at the Mondavi Center in Davis, California. She stopped singing a short 9 months later. Parkinson’s. Even though her book was a disappointment to me, Linda Ronstadt herself is inspirational.
At least I can hang my future on the fact that some morning I will get up and my jaw will no longer ache. My implants will be in place, and I’ll be experiencing chomper bliss. And Sacramento real estate will continue to move on.
The Lead Based Paint Disclosure for Sacramento Sellers
One of the (many) problems inherent in selling a home yourself as a for sale by owner is FSBOs typically don’t have the seller disclosures. All sellers in California are required to disclose certain conditions and information about a home. Most of the time, a seller never gives these things a second thought because her agent handles that for her by providing the forms. We are constantly, as Sacramento real estate agents, thinking about managing risk for our sellers and, by extension, ourselves.
I try to have that “disclosure talk” involving potential lawsuits with each and every one of my sellers. I must put the fear of god into them because of the way some respond. For example, yesterday, a seller sent me a series of emails about whether his home has or does not have lead-based paint. He couldn’t remember when he bought the home what the seller at that time had disclosed. He wanted to make sure he disclosed the same thing. I love sellers like him to pieces. They are conscientious.
The lead-based paint form is a federal form that is required for every California real estate transaction in which the home was built prior to 1978, and I use it for transactions involving newer homes as well. You never know where a person might buy lead-based paint. It’s still sold in some states.
The lead-based paint form states there might be lead-based paint in the home. It puts a buyer on notice that if a buyer is concerned, the buyer needs to further investigate. This might involve having the paint tested. There is also another law that says you can’t hire a painter to paint a home who doesn’t comply with lead-based paint removal procedures.
My seller wanted a yes or no answer. Should he say yes he has lead-based paint or should he say no, he does not. Not everything in life requires a yes or no answer. Some things simply need to be disclosed and a seller should disclose what a seller knows for certain to be true. My seller was pretty happy yesterday that he had a real estate agent. While we can’t fill out these forms for our sellers, we can direct and help them to make the right decisions.
Looking for a Small Condo or Fixer Homes in Sacramento?
There is a big market in Sacramento for fixer homes, believe it or not. Every day it seems I receive an email from some newly formed LLC begging for listings and offering to work with me if I’ll let them know when a fixer hits the market. As though I will treat them any differently than any other buyer. They’ll find out about the listing when everybody else finds out about it, when it hits MLS.
Why they write to me, I don’t know. All new listings in Sacramento are updated within minutes on my website.
Maybe they don’t know any better, but I doubt it. I suspect it’s something more sinister than that, but maybe I give them too much credit. It’s so cute — some of the calls are from individual investors from the Bay area who probably stare at their image in a mirror all day long. They act as though they are this rare and precious commodity, a cash investor. They are often the 20th such investor that day who has called. And I’m not the only Sacramento real estate agent they are calling. They are calling all the top listing agents in Sacramento and offering to work with them. What a waste of time.
But I did list two new homes yesterday. If you are looking for a home in south Sacramento that needs a little TLC, check out this 3 bedroom, 2 bath home on almost a 1/4 acre. It features a raised fireplace with an insert in the living room, breakfast nook in the kitchen, and a giant yard with 3 outbuildings that could probably be used for storage. It needs a little paint and new flooring. 6820 Sandrock Way, Sacramento, CA 95828. Offered at $159,000, Elizabeth Weintraub, 916 233 6759, Lyon Real Estate.
I’ve also got a condo in the gated community of Amherst Place. It’s an upper floor unit with two levels, bed and bath on each, perfect for roommates. Decent shape. Indoor stacked laundry. Fireplace in living room. HOA dues are $245 a month and include a swimming pool. Offered as a short sale at $90,000, and the servicer is Green Tree; the investor is Fannie Mae, which means the price could be higher depending on the comparable sales at time of sale. 1019 Dornajo Way, #229, Sacramento, CA 95825. Offered at $90,000, Elizabeth Weintraub, 916 233 6759, Lyon Real Estate.
See, I don’t always list the high end stuff. Sometimes, I sell the fixers, and that’s OK. Just don’t call and beg me to work with you. You can just write an offer, like anybody else.
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