Email ElizabethDamned if You Do and Damned if You Don’t
When a stranger calls for free advice, the common dilemma of damned if you do and damned if you don’t, makes it difficult not to hang up. Because hanging up is my solution for handling most irritants. Way back when I moved to Sacramento and was so excited just to get a phone call, I would even talk to telemarketers. I was polite and sweet and asked them to put me on the national do not call list. Today, not so sweet. Today I get so much crap, so much spam and solicitation calls, the best response I can muster is to hang up.
Why? Because if you mutter one word, #1) it’s a time waster, and #2) they will use it against you later and 3) nothing good can come from a conversation with another’s agent client in a foreign market. Further, if it is an unsolicited sales call, little is all that new or fabulous that you need to hear it described to you from a stranger you do not know and from a person whose sole purpose for continuing the conversation is to profit from YOU.
However, being in real estate, you’re pretty much damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Because if you don’t answer your phone, you could miss a call. Many potential clients will just call another agent if you send the call to voice mail. They have little patience, and they want an answer now. Hell, if I called some random agent who did not answer, I’d call somebody else, you can bet on it . . . and I know the value of good agents.
The problem comes into play when a caller asks if they can ask you a question. You think to yourself, sure, I have plenty of answers, perhaps one of them will fit this particular situation. And then the question has to do with an existing transaction. Sure, the caller may say it’s a hypothetical situation, but it is understood by both parties it is a real situation. Which means it is not a hypothetical situation.
If, as a Sacramento Realtor, you take time to explain the Realtor Code of Ethics and why we are prohibited from interfering in another’s transaction, you may come to realize the caller does not care about you nor your integrity. Nope, the caller wants an answer from you. No matter how it is phrased, you still take a chance they will run over to a profile somewhere and post a mean-spirited “review.”
There is no upside to it.
None. Whatsoever.
If you try to educate, the caller will argue. Then, they tend to get their knickers in a twist because you won’t cooperate with their demands. So, in these damned if you do and damned if you don’t situations, agents would be much better off just to hang up. Don’t offer anything. On the one hand, you don’t want to be accused of violating the Code of Ethics, on the other, there is no money in it for you. And a bad “review” is just waiting to happen.
People experience dropped calls all the time. THAT they can deal with. Explaining why you cannot help a stranger, big waste of time. Some of these people can make you regret that you even answered your phone. Remember, too, you are not a white knight.
So right in the middle of delivering a warm, lovely and inviting sentence, hit the red button. Then go to Recents and block.
Realtor.Com and Opcity Sell Out Realtors Nationwide
Everybody knows that Realtor.com was late to the party online but few expected Realtor.com and Opcity to sell out Realtors nationwide. There was this fragile part of many agents who desperately wanted to hold out hope for Realtor.com and looked at this particular website as representing Realtors everywhere in the country.
Instead, Realtor.com and Opcity is beginning to charge agents a hefty referral fee in order to receive buyer inquiries. This Sacramento Realtor is not entirely sure how it works yet but I can tell you that News Corp (owned by Rupert Murdoch) now owns Realtor.com. News Corp also bought Opcity. I know, you’re thinking why doesn’t the National Association of Realtors own Realtor.com? Why did they sell it to such a horrible person?
It’s a long story. Involving Move.com, a company I cannot seem to get rid of although I have diligently tried to stop it from spamming. As for Murdoch, he’s pure evil.
The whole affiliated relationship picture of Realtor.com and Opcity is ugly and repulsive to me and to many other agents. It doesn’t do any good to lament Realtor.com and what could have been because it never happened; crying over spilt milk doesn’t help.
From now, leads will be monetized and I predict that Realtor.com and Opcity will enjoy a fruitful relationship from milking morons for years to come.
OMG Our Hawaii Orchids Bloomed in Kona
Definitely was not expecting our Hawaii orchids to have bloomed already. I stuck an old orchid plant in our hibiscus tree at our house in Hawaii about a year ago. Forget all about it until I noticed the orchid was attaching itself to the hibiscus tree in the photo below.
A friend had assured me that to grow Hawaii orchids, all you need to do is throw them into the trees. Keep them in a shaded environment and ignore. No fertilizer. No watering. No fussing over it.
OK, I figured, what harm could it do? Once the orchid has finished blooming, throwing it into a tree is not much different than throwing it out. It will either live or it won’t. A bunch of spent orchids I had placed on the ground under the mango tree did not make it. But the one I stuck into the hibiscus tree attached itself, as evidenced by the photograph above of our Hawaii orchids.
It’s kind of creepy, in a way.
I left Hawaii 3 weeks ago, and the Hawaii orchids didn’t even have buds at that time. Our gardener sent us this photo with the tag line: your orchids have fired! Isn’t that amazing?? Where else in the world can you throw orchid into a hibiscus tree and it rewards you a year later with all of these blooms? Nature is fascinating.
Some 2005 Sacramento Home Buyers Are Still Underwater
Do you believe some 2005 Sacramento home buyers are still underwater? By that I mean they cannot sell the home for the amount they paid in 2005. Not that they need to do a short sale. Although in some instances, it can be pretty close to not being able to pay all the closing costs and mortgage, most of these sellers can squeak by. They just don’t make any money on their investment.
You might wonder how does this happen? How is it possible that 2005 Sacramento home buyers are still underwater when we’ve had such great appreciation? One of the ways this can happen is to pay too much at the time of sale. Another way this can happen is the sales price at the time of sale did not reflect the way buyers look at homes today.
Many 2005 sales were sold strictly AS IS and home buyers, in the heat of the market frenzy, bought homes without inspections, waived appraisals and overlooked remedying expensive pest reports. Which, of course, is not happening today. In today’s market, not only will buyers refuse to waive or ignore these reports, but they will hit the sales price too. On top of refusing to buy a home without updates.
Welcome to 2019 Sacramento real estate.
One of my former sellers bought a home at the height of the market. Suspecting they paid too much at inception, I pulled the comps within 3 months of his closing and presented the findings. The findings suggested he paid $50K too much, based on the comparable sales. But they also lost about $100K due to the condition the home, by which today’s buyers judge and reject.
Another potential seller is very tight on her equity in Natomas. She cannot sell for the amount she paid, but at least she won’t have to pitch in any money to close escrow. Just when we think that 14 years ago should have been enough time to recoup our investments, it’s important to note that notion does not hold true for everybody.
Because some 2005 home buyers are still underwater today. In case you think appraisals will save some of these situations, it most likely will not. Not every neighborhood features cookie cutter homes. Those with unique homes are generally hurt the most because it’s easy to pay too much in these areas. Which is why you need a specialist.
Yoga for Old People in Sacramento
Working out with younger people is not enough of a reason to want to find yoga for old people in Sacramento. Because I honestly do not mind pierced navels, flat stomachs and bright happy faces, all smug and innocent; no, no, no, all of that is perfectly OK with me. What I do mind is exhaustion and my inability to strike certain poses.
My quest since returning from my winter vacation in Hawaii is to find comparable classes of yoga for old people in Sacramento. The place I’ve been going to in Holualoa has created a class that is absolutely perfect for me. Just completely lucked out with this class. At the end, I feel the burn and stretch, and I’m generally panting. Even though it is not exactly a fast-paced class. And the instructor doesn’t just call out the names of poses, he explains precisely how to get oneself into those poses.
Without naming the yoga studio, let’s just say I selected a place not too far from my home in Land Park that offered a variety of classes. Little did I realize they were not really geared for seniors. When I showed up for a yin yoga class, the instructor suggested I pick up a bolster and blocks, and I stared blankly at her. Never heard of those things. We did 4 or 6 poses, with all sorts of weird music playing, and held the poses for a long time.
In the middle of all of this, the instructor stealthily tiptoes over to people and begins to pet them. My husband called it molesting, but it was actually very enjoyable to have my feet stroked, my head rubbed, and my arms petted while in the midst of a pose. However, I did not feel the burn and stretch and I was not panting.
Next up, I tried the vinyasa class. Turned to the guy helping everybody with blocks and bolsters and asked if he realized how hot it was in the room. Yes, he smiled, it’s 98 degrees. Holy crap! It’s bad enough they were demanding we do flying fluid movements, down to the ground, head up, feet back, spring back to your feet. Oh my lord. After 30 minutes I was ready to die. Just close my eyes and never wake up again except it was so friggin’ HOT in that room.
Perhaps it was the pose where you stand on one foot, reach around behind yourself and grab your raised foot, pulling it up over your head that about did me in. Here, I was so proud of myself for learning how to balance on one foot, and they threw this move at me. No way, Jose.
I was a mess. Hair plastered to my head. Dripping wet. Hamstrings aching. This was a bit more of a burn and stretch than I wanted to feel, and I wasn’t merely panting; I looked like a golden retriever, tongue hanging out and sad hang-dog eyes. It was as though somebody had tied me to the back of a pickup truck and dragged me naked for 50 yards. Instead, I grabbed my water bottle and headed for the front desk.
Please, isn’t there someplace I can go to find yoga for old people in Sacramento? They gave me the name of Yoga Seed. At that website, the first thing I noticed was they have special classes for developmentally disabled children on the autism spectrum!
Well, I don’t care what that suggests.
I showed up for my first yoga class there yesterday morning, and it went rather well. Again, they featured not only bolsters and blocks but also belts, yet I made it through the class. It was slightly too slow placed and not entirely challenging for me, but I will return and keep at it. Gentle yoga is better than no yoga at all.
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