Email ElizabethComputers And Cats In Sacramento
Computer and cats in Sacramento is a fun blog to write about. As I was starting to write, my cat, Kits, jumped up onto my computer tower. It is positioned right behind the monitor. He looked over the top and was playing hide and seek. This photo is worth a 1000 words. The good news, I’m not going to write 1000 words, lol.
The joys of working from home are the cats keep me smiling. Kits is a purebred male Ragdoll cat. I own his mother and father, so I have had him since the day he was born. The cats often come and sit right in front of monitor, I call it the command center.
They certainly enjoy spending time near me when I’m working. Ragdolls are very personable cats. They will insert themselves right in the middle of a moment. I hope you enjoyed this picture as much as I did. Computers and cats in Sacramento is a part of this Sacramento Realtor’s daily life.
If you are interested in buying or selling a property, call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors with RE/MAX Gold. We can be reached at 916-233-6759.
–JaCi Wallace
Hard Money Loans And Fast Closes
Hard money loans and fast closes may not always be as good as they sound. An agent presented an offer that promised a 3-day close. Of course, that did not happen, but it did fund after seven days.
We have some title issues as the seller had previously refinanced and borrowed an additional second loan. Both were paid but the payoffs were not filed. North American Title had handled one of the loans and our escrow officer at Placer was able to clear that one up. The second loan is taking more time.
Of course, the buyer’s agent has shared lots of drama about why we did not close on time. It was explained to him that the lender had an entire page of conditions that the buyer had to complete, so the hold up to date was caused by the lender. Hard money loans and fast closes do not always go as smoothly as they are promised to be.
If you want to purchase a home with a quick close or a typical 30-day closing, just call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors with RE/MAX Gold. We can help you to obtain a variety of hard money loans or just a simple FHA or conventional loan. We can be reached at 916-233-6759.
JaCi Wallace
New rural listing in Sloughhouse, California
This new rural listing in Sloughhouse, California, is full of vineyards, olive trees and walnut trees. This custom-built home is 4,400 square feet of gorgeous. The 10 acres are filled with the makings for wine and olive oil, which are processed offsite. You can live a gentleman farmer’s life in pure luxury. This is a modern Tuscany-style farmhouse you would see in a villa in Italy. Fresh produce right out of your vegetable garden, just steps away from the chef’s kitchen.
Further, you will find Lowen windows, handmade doors, a chef’s kitchen and high-end master suite. The exposed trusses made of southern white pine beams. You will be hard pressed to find a rural listing in Sloughhouse, California, that features as many outdoor courtyards, expansive patios, including an interior courtyard with a fountain. There are 3 bedrooms, plus a loft office, a bonus room and wine cellar. The stunning sunsets overlooking open meadows as far as you can see at the back of the property will form lasting memories.
This new listing in Sloughhouse, California, is sure to be the most exciting piece of rural real estate you have seen in years. For pricing information call, Weintraub & Wallace for your private showing this weekend. Call us at 916-233-6759.
— JaCi Wallace
How To Increase Buyer Traffic
How to increase buyer traffic, was an article published on another website by Elizabeth several years ago. This sage information many Realtors miss the mark on. To sell a house, you have to show it first. Enjoy the read.
— JaCi Wallace
Home marketing and advertising should have one common goal. Contrary to popular belief, that goal is NOT to sell your home. The goal is to get a buyer interested enough to LOOK at your home.
The premise is simple. If you can’t get buyers in the door, you aren’t going to get an offer. So, everything you do should focus on getting buyers to call you for an appointment or call your agent for a showing.
Of course, you want to sell your home. But don’t spend time concentrating on the end result until you can entice buyers to look at your home. Buyers fall in love with what they can see. If they can’t see your home, they won’t fall in love. It’s really quite simple. So how do you get them to call or visit?
Read more about 10 Ways to Increase Traffic.
If you are interested in how to increase buyer traffic, call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors with RE/MAX Gold, to list your home. We can be reached at 916-233-6759
Elizabeth Weintraub
Why Buying a Home on Hawaii Island is Hard
The process for buying our first home on Hawaii Island was a bit convoluted because we used conventional financing, with our mortgage people located on another island. And let’s just say they were not Dan Tharp quality from Sacramento. If I recall correctly, they also became inebriated on Christmas Eve and threatened to cancel my loan for no good reason. Then, they apologized profusely after sobering up the following day.
Buying a home on Hawaii Island is hard.
Some of the problems with buying a home on Hawaii Island are contained in the way agents do business on Hawaii Island and also in the purchase contract itself. For example, California used to be referred to as strictly a Caveat Emptor state for buyers, but the state fixed that attitude and its inherent problems. The California Residential Purchase Agreement definitely favors buyers now.
Not so in the wonderful state of Hawaii. Which suggests to me that builders and developers are running the state of Hawaii. Not a lot of protection for buyers in the purchase contract.
Now, we used a broker from another island when we bought our first home, so we did not much encounter the (odd to me) practice of agent limitations. Many brokers in Hawaii do not allow their agents to obtain signatures on a purchase contract until the agent’s broker approves the document. This applies to all paperwork, including attachments, addendums and counter offers. Some brokers take more than a day to review the paperwork. Do you see the dilemma? Nothing is signed by the buyers until the broker reviews. And he is surfing. Whatever.
The dilemma is some lucky buyer who has hired a real estate broker for representation (instead of an agent) could swoop in, present and snatch the house one desires before one has a chance to even sign the offer. Other dilemmas are contract verbiage itself.
Take the AS IS addendum, for example. Among other seller-centric things, this document states the buyer relinquishes all rights to sue the seller or sellers’ brokerage for just about anything except for failure to disclose material facts. That is insane. We’re not talking about arbitration. This is a release of legal rights to sue.
On top of this, there is no contingency of purchase form, according to our Realtor. There are so many variables to a contingency, I cannot believe they leave it up to the parties and agents to practice law, but they do.
In one counter offer, our agent inserted a paragraph stating the buyers (which are us) could lose our deposit if we defaulted, and then it pointed to the language which is reiterated in the contract. Why did she include that verbiage? Your guess is as good as mine.
It can easily take up to a week to write an offer to buy a home on Hawaii Island and negotiate it. You will also hear agents say things like, “I am just a messenger.” And maybe that is the main problem. They operate like messengers . . . so if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, I guess it is a duck. I would slap an agent in Sacramento who said she is just a messenger. NO, you are not a messenger. You are a professional Realtor with scores of experience and knowledge, and respectable negotiating skills.
A listing agent we encountered a few days ago took the icing on the cake when he asked us, “What would it take for you to write an offer today?” He has been in the business for 41 years, perhaps one year 41 times. What was that? Selling a house 101? Maybe he should sell cars?
His seller wasn’t much better. The seller followed us around saying things like, if you don’t like the fact that it sometimes rains inside the house, you could buy sliding glass doors from Lowes for $300 each. Yes, in 1968. Not today. After I asked pointed questions like why was the floor sloping toward the center of the house, he anxiously blurted: “Perhaps this is not the house for you!” Then he informed us the house needs a new roof, the pool resurfaced, and joists are breaking, and ended that disclosure with the fact maybe he should buy out his partner and keep the house.
Yeah, both the seller and listing agent talked us out of buying a home on Hawaii Island.
By the end of the showing, all desire to buy that house in North Kona had dissipated. It was probably a nice house, too, but the experience of viewing it was simply too exhaustive. Stay tuned . . .
— Elizabeth Weintraub
Weintraub & Wallace Realtors
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