Email ElizabethIf You Are Not A Weintraub Client
Just because I deal honestly with other people doesn’t always mean people will deal honestly with me, and I can live with that. I can’t change other people; I can only change myself, but I have to really want to change, ha, ha, little joke. I mean, what other business in the world can you be in that involves working with other people without a contract or guarantee that you’ll ever get paid? Apart from the state of California, I mean. The real estate business is an odd duck.
You know what else is odd? U. S. Customs. I went through U. S. Customs in Los Angeles earlier this week when I came back from French Polynesia. I filled out my custom’s form in meticulous detail, and drove my husband crazy trying to compute the value of each item I had purchased in the islands. We had to convert from Franc-er-roos to American dollars, and the conversion rate was different on different days, but we managed to arrive at a value to report.
The guy at the first window stared at my declaration and gasped, “You spent !!!! (a bazillion dollars)?” He stared into my eyes. My husband volunteered, “Hey, I was stunned, too.” I answered in the affirmative. Yes, I did. Well, then I was ordered to go to Section B. Oh, no, not Section B! I grabbed my suitcases and marched over there. Thank goodness for those new rollers on luggage that allow a person to maneuver her luggage with one finger, that’s all I’ve got to say.
I handed my declaration to the guy standing behind the sign that read Section B. He studied it. His eyes narrowed, brows crisscrossed. He, too, made the bazillion-dollar comment. Then he questioned, “These pearl necklaces . . . do they have a tie clasp?” I retracted a necklace that did and showed it to him. He asked about the others, but they were gift wrapped. He did not make me unwrap them. He said simply that he would presume they were all similar, and he exempted them, adding that he believes that U. S. Citizens should get a break. I suppose it’s because I was not a “permanent resident” but instead a U. S. Citizen. I don’t know for sure but he gave me a break, and most likely because I told him the truth.
But I don’t always get the truth out of potential clients who approach me. I ask if they are working with another agent. Most of the time, a person will say no, she is not. Perhaps in her mind she is telling the truth because her agent is not standing next to her. She has her own definition of what working with an agent means. If the agent believes you are her client, then you are working with an agent.
The problem with working with an agent is this Sacramento real estate agent can’t work with a buyer who has an agent. It’s not ethical. It is against the Code of Ethics if a buyer or a seller is in contract, in escrow, with no intention of canceling and just wants advice, for me to respond. If a person has signed a purchase contract and not yet canceled, that person has a fiduciary because the agency most likely has been signed as well. Once a person is under contract, a person should not try to get advice from another REALTOR without first canceling the existing relationship.
Yet, all the time I see buyers and sellers on Zillow and Trulia and other websites seeking advice from REALTORs. Most of these buyers and sellers are in contract. They also contact me directly. They email or text or leave me voice mail messages, and they ask for my help. They probably think I am being a witch when I don’t respond or say I cannot help them, because they don’t know any better. They don’t know how agents work. It’s not that I don’t want to help, it’s that to do so would violate the Code of Ethics. On top of that, I am paid to help clients. That’s how I earn my living. If you are not my client, then you must either become client to get my assistance or find help elsewhere. I don’t make up these rules. But I do believe that what goes around, comes around.
If you are working with the Elizabeth Weintraub Team, you can get help from me or any of my team members. But you have to first be working with us. If you are working with another agent, you need to get your help from your own agent.
Photo: Gift shop in Bora Bora, which was probably sued by the owner of the rights to Fantasy Island, by Elizabeth Weintraub
A Cash Offer to Buy a Home is Not Always Cash
A South Pacific reef lobster-related cut still smiles on my thumb. That and a few no-see-um bites is all that remains from my 3-week vacation in French Polynesia. At least that’s all I spot as I do a full body check, heading out the door this morning to my Midtown office. Eyeballs have contacts. Check. Keys. Check. Pants. Check. I’m good to go. The life of a Sacramento real estate agent never really stops, it just slows down a little bit over the holidays. It’s like my life goes into slow motion and all the seas are calm. As a reminder, I give you this red hibiscus found on Bora Bora.
There will be more listings to take this week. Which is good because the inventory is so low in Sacramento right now that buyer’s agents are emailing and asking me to notify them before a listing goes on the market. That won’t do anybody any good though because there is no “first shot” at a property. All listings are exposed to the widest pool of buyers possible, which means complete mayhem in this market but that’s the way it goes. It doesn’t matter if the listing is a regular home for sale by a seller with equity or if it’s a short sale, every seller deserves equal opportunity among the vast number of buyers.
Sellers don’t want limited exposure. The short sale banks don’t want side deals going on, either, or buyers sneaking in the back door. Everybody gets a chance to buy. I realize it’s super tough to buy a home in Sacramento; it’s tough for many buyers in this market. That’s because some buyers are waiving cash around. Cash offers tend to get priority. Few buyers can compete with a cash offer.
I recall a few weeks ago a buyer’s agent emailed me while I was in Bora Bora. She asked if she could write an offer as all cash and yet reserve the right for her buyer to obtain a hard-money loan. That’s kind of back-door way to write an offer, and while I understand why a buyer would do it, it’s not really a true picture. The true picture is the offer is a hard money loan with the right reserved to pay cash. If you want to be honest about it. So, that’s the way she wrote it, and the seller accepted it.
You don’t need to play games to buy a home in Sacramento.
Photo: Adam Weintraub
Major Bank Settlements Pay Cash for Short Sale
Can you get money for doing a short sale with Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo or Citimortgage? That’s most likely the question in the minds this morning of many past, present and future short sale sellers. You might get enough cash to take a French Polynesia vacation, you never know. The New York Times reports payments as much as $125,000 to reduce principal balances could be offered as a result of these bank settlements. And the bank I see paying out the most in Sacramento is Bank of America on those Cooperative Short Sales. Yup, banks will pay cash for short sale.
Remember way back when, when this Sacramento short sale agent suggested that Bank of America was actively dumping those old Countrywide loans? It seems I was right on the money with that call. If I spotted a Countrywide loan in a short sale, on that hunch alone, I routinely directed the seller to a Cooperative Short Sale. Never had a Cooperative that way rejected. I have probably initiated more Cooperative Short Sales on my own through Bank of America than any other short sale agent in town.
I recall one instance in particular. I was dealing with a third-party vendor, either REDC or DTS, don’t recall, there are so many. This particular third-party vendor was telling me we had to do a HAFA, and I insisted, no, it needed to be a Cooperative Short Sale, even though I was going out on the limb a little with that demand.
I was driving through Midtown Sacramento with the top down on my car, so it was hard to hear the caller on my Jawbone, but we argued for a good 14 blocks, all the way from J Street to Broadway. Finally, I suggested she call her supervisor to discuss because I didn’t want to hear from her again about a HAFA when this short sale was destined to be a Cooperative. Sure enough, a day or so later, the bank switched to a Cooperative despite the negotiator’s initial objections. That seller received more than $10,000 to do the short sale and no documentation was required. It can pay to disagree with an individual’s assessment. Because individuals aren’t always right.
For months, Bank of America has been releasing servicing. Sometimes, the service release happens smack dab in the middle of a short sale, which is a rude awakening. The bank needs to pay Fannie Mae $11 billion and needs to get that money somewhere, so it’s dumping its loan portfolios. Part of the problem with that is it’s reducing competition among lenders if Bank of America withdraws from the mortgage market. When competition is reduced, it hurts consumers.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. If you’re looking to see if you could be a lucky recipient of cash for a short sale, call this Sacramento short sale agent and I’ll check it into for you.
Photo: Flower of Tahiti, by Elizabeth Weintraub
Back From French Polynesia
While you are reading this blog, I will be going through the agony of US Customs at LAX, having landed back in the country from French Polynesia. I know there are people who say just pack those black pearls, Tahitian rum and Cuban cigars in your luggage and keep your trap shut, but I am not one of those people who listen to that stuff. I don’t believe in smuggling stuff when you can report it, pay the tiny little tax and be done with it. Not everything that is Duty Free means you don’t pay tax anyway. And, if a US Custom official finds unreported taxable crap in your luggage, they can take it away from you. Why anybody would try to sneak stuff through US Customs is beyond me.
Why break the law? Why cause more problems for yourself? Life is filled with enough problems all by their lonesome little problem-selves, we don’t need to create more of them for ourselves. It’s like sellers who try to find creative ways around the rules of a short sale. They don’t realize that when they try to do that, they are taking a chance that the lender will find out. If the lender finds out, the lender can take away their release of liability. Just rip that rug out from under their short sale noses. There is no reason to tamper with your release of personal liability. None.
SB 458 paved the way for banks to go after sellers who commit mortgage fraud in a short sale. If there is no mortgage fraud and everything is clean and above board, sellers get a clean break. No deficiency judgment and no liability. They get off scott-free and can walk away into the sunset or hop on Air Tahiti if they so please. But there could be consequences if a seller breaks the law.
But consequences are not the only reason not to break the law. Heck, we have the death penalty in California and it doesn’t stop murderers from killing other people. Consequences don’t mean much to some people. Unfortunately, neither does just doing the right thing. For example, nothing seems to stop the antics of a person like Lindsay Lohan. Oh, wait, I think I spot her in line, three people down from me. Oh, crap.
In case you’re wondering, you don’t pay tax on $800 of merchandise, per person. Two people equals $1,600 of tax-free items. Pearls are taxable even though they are hand-made, regardless of what you may read online elsewhere.
Lunch in Vaitape
The thing about wearing a flimsy poncho in the rain while walking down the street in Vaitape is not that people look at you funny and laugh, which they do; it’s that the poncho sticks to your skin and makes you sweat. Profusely. Even though you may be a woman and you don’t sweat. Women perspire. Men sweat. But my husband is not sweating because he is soaking wet and is not wearing a poncho. He might even feel a bit morally superior but his passport is soaking wet and mine is not.
However, if I cared what people thought about me, I would not run around scaring them half to death by letting my hair do whatever it feels likes doing. In the rain, it feels like frizzing out. I’m sort of a cross between Bride of Frankenstein and Lyle Lovett. But do I care? No, I do not. I also do not care because I put up with enough abuse in my other life as a Sacramento short sale agent.
What I care about today is the enormous mosquito bite that appeared out of nowhere just slightly above where Ecuador would be if Peru was my naval. I did not put insect repellent on my stomach. And this is what I get for that oversight. A huge honkin’ mosquito bite that is causing me to want to rip the flesh off of my belly by grabbing the closest sharp object and scraping it off me.
We are having a wonderful time, regardless. Looking for lunch in Vaitape. Rain dripping down my nose as I tighten the strings around my little hoodie. We stop to admire a banana plant. Some 10-year-old boy with hair swinging down his back rode by on a bicycle and yelled “banana” at us, just in case we were too stupid to figure out that we were looking at a banana tree. We did not know where we were headed exactly, but figured sooner or later we would come upon the restaurant we were looking for, which would be Le St. James on the bay in Vaitape. How hard could it be to find a restaurant in a city with fewer than 5,000 people? Not very hard.
I include a photo I shot here for you. The prices are incredibly cheap for a $75 lunch as compared to dinners at St. Regis. All prices are quoted in Franc-er-roos. You can spend 20,000 Franc-er-roos quite easily for lunch. Maybe 30,000 Franc-er-roos for dinner. We split a dish of curried shrimp on angel hair pasta, downed 2 Coke Lights and I ordered the beef prepared four ways. Tartare, grilled rare, carpaccio and something called half-cooked that was actually half-cooked. The Le St. James Restaurant seems like a pretty decent place for dinner, too. It’s just that it takes a golf cart ride, then passenger ferryboat, then shuttle bus, then walking 8 or 10 blocks by taking your life in your hands though the center of Vaitape to get there.
But how often do you get to Bora Bora? And when you do, stop for lunch in Vaitape.
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