Email ElizabethHow Often Do You Check Your Email?
How often do you check your email in today’s high tech world? Almost everybody sends a text message, even longer book-length text messages. However, I still work primarily email-based. When sending files or attachments to my clients, I need email. I could share documents via any assortment of online storage options, but my clients would struggle, and I like to keep things simple and easy for them.
For example, vendors routinely send me links to Google, but my email is not Google based. I use Google for as little as possible, primarily because its do no evil premise is a joke today. I prefer to pay directly for services I can rely on and control.
Far as the norm for checking your email, I’d guess, based on responses I receive, that most people do it a couple times a day. If they don’t have a smartphone, they need to use an actual computer or an iPad. In fact, speaking of iPads, I just got rid of AT&T because I don’t use cell service anymore. It’s a waste of money to pay for it.
Yesterday morning I received an email from a fellow who said he and his wife have decided to buy a condo in Midtown Sacramento and wanted to know if I could help them. Absolutely. I love working with clients who contact us directly and are ready to act because I know they’ll be in escrow within hours if not a few days.
We responded immediately, and our buyer’s agent extraordinaire Josh Amolsch contacted the buyers. They responded to say, oh, they already bought a condo last year and the email had been stuck in their email outbox since October.
I’m thinking, is 4 months a reasonable time not to check your email? My email downloads to my computer every 2 minutes. But as a Sacramento Realtor, I’m a bit of an extreme. Out of curiosity, I looked up the condo in the tax rolls. Actually, they ultimately ended up buying that condo last February, 11 months ago. That’s a long time not to check email or notice there was an email in the outbox. If you’re connected, emails should automatically release.
Now this makes me wonder how many people even use a desktop computer anymore. Everybody has laptops. Are desktop computers going away? And look at that phone in the top photo. Have you seen anything that honkin’ big lately? Does anybody but my husband use a landline?
Why Customer Service is an Oxymoron
Ain’t it the truth? If you want your real estate business to explode overnight, just go on vacation. What can happen in early January, you may ask? Oy. But between my laptop, my iPad and iPhone, I am never without communication of some sort. Unless, of course, I leave my phone in my at home, but then I still have my Apple Watch.
That photo above is of the rabbit in the terminal at the Sacramento Airport. I know lots of people in Sacramento don’t like it, but I find the structure attractive and invigorating. It makes me think my plane will be on time. Even though that is a fallacy and there is no logical reason to believe it. Because if a flight can be delayed, it will happen and they often don’t tell you. But that is to be expected.
See, this is the problem. We have become so accustomed to bad service, delayed flights, lost luggage, it’s become the norm. The standard. In fact, there are people alive today, living in this 22nd Century who do not know that at one time receptionists used to answer the phone and those same people would transfer you to a department if you needed help. Employees in that department worked at the company. They cared about their job, and they cared about their customers. They would actually solve your problem or die trying.
Today, that person is overseas somewhere. Pretty soon there will be no person at all. Nobody will answer your call, and nobody will help you. We have inferior and bad customer service but at least by god we have some semblance of customer service. And everybody is happy because there are few of us left alive who remember we once had good customer service. Do you remember when department stores had employees who were elevator operators? They wore a uniform, white gloves, and a little monkey hat. They ran the elevator by closing the criss-crossed metal doors and raising the arm that made the elevator go up and down.
Every customer who crossed the threshold to get on the elevator was greeted, and when you left you were wished a good day.
No, of course you don’t remember elevator operators because if you are a Millennial, you were not born yet. If something doesn’t work, you throw it away today. You don’t expect excellence from a company because you have no idea what it is. You’ve never seen it. And that is a shame because you are missing out on a great pleasure — the right to complain and bitch about it.
When we stop complaining, we have lost the battle.
Fortunately, clients never complain about The Elizabeth Weintraub Team. We under-promise, over-deliver, and superior customer service is our #1 goal.
Adventures in Cooking Hawaiian Laulau in a Crockpot
In many ways, Hawaiian food is foreign to mainlanders, but we can all agree that Hawaiian laulau in a crockpot is easy and simple. Just because it’s unusual — odd mostly because we use plants found in our yard — doesn’t mean it is not a very tasty dish. Laulau is really fabulous. It takes 8 hours to steam on low in the crockpot, so a little preplanning is necessary.
The photo above, btw, is something I found online, not my finished dish. I did not take a photo of my Hawaiian laulau in a crockpot because it is not pretty. Doesn’t stop the flavor, though. Don’t let the appearance fool you. The laulau is the rolled leaf package. Nestled with ahi poke, lomi lomi salmon, kalua pork, rice and, of course, macaroni salad. Poi is in the bowl, which is sort of a tasteless pudding, made by pounding steamed taro root with a pestle.
While my husband was visiting last week, I decided to make Hawaiian laulau in a crockpot as a way to welcome him to the islands. There are as many ways to make laulau as there are types of southern barbecue. Lots of variations. And because ancient Hawaiians did not have a crockpot, they buried it in the yard.
Most of our yard is lava rock, so no burying for us. Besides, we have a Costco in Kona, so off we went to buy a crockpot. My husband says only I can walk into Costco to buy a $20 appliance and walk out with a KitchenAid mixer, a new Dyson vacuum cleaner (to replace the Hoover I ruined vacuuming the garage floor) and a kitchen scale. Don’t get me wrong, we got the crockpot, too.
Also, I should mention that to the best of my recollection, I have never before bought nor used a crockpot in my life. Yes, in many ways, I have led a sheltered existence. Had no idea how they worked or that it is basically two settings, four hours on high or eight hours on low. Just plug it in. How easy is that? Our new fancy crockpot even came with a locking lid; however, you absolutely do NOT want to lock the lid when making Hawaiian laulau in a crockpot.
Next, we were off to Taniguchi’s to buy a pork butt shoulder roast, Hawaiian Alaea Sea Salt (it is red), and a package of taro leaves, which is sold already bagged in the fresh produce section. Laulau, btw, means leaf, leaf.
The recipe I found online called for lining the crockpot with banana or Ti leaves, which supposedly you can buy frozen. Our neighbor has Ti plants, so we could have “borrowed” a few from her, but the banana leaves would require more traveling. However, you can also cheat the process by using aluminum foil.
Here are the ingredients you will need:
- 4 pounds of pork butt shoulder roast
- 3 tablespoons of Hawaiian Alaea salt. (Adjust down if you are sodium sensitive.)
- 3 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 8 Ti leaves or banana leaves (or use aluminum foil)
- Package of fresh taro leaves
If you use Ti or banana leaves, line the crockpot with the shiny side up on the bottom and the sides. You want to create an atmosphere for steaming,
Begin by cutting up 4 to 6 pounds of pork butt shoulder roast into 1 1/2 inch chunks. We used a full 3 tablespoons of red salt but in hindsight, personally, it would have been fine with one tablespoon. Pour in 3 tablespoons of soy sauce and mix the meat with the salt and soy sauce.
Using two taro leaves one on top of the other, place 4 pieces of pork in the center. Fold over and roll up, placing seam side down in the crockpot. Continue until you have stacked all the packets. Pour 1 cup of water over the packets. Then arrange Ti leaves on top (shiny side down) to seal the dish for steaming. Place aluminum foil on top and put the lid on top to keep it secure.
Set the crockpot to low and cook for 8 hours. See, it’s so simple, even a Sacramento Realtor could do it. Serve with a side of steamed brown rice or poi or both.
I brought several packets to my neighbors because this recipe made far more laulau than we could consume. Further, it’s the neighborly thing to do. Surprisingly, our neighbors never tasted laulau. What a treat for them: the pork is so incredibly sweet and moist. You are also supposed to eat the taro leaves with it.
So, what did the neighbors think? Mr. Neighbor said the dish was salty but not “too salty.” Mrs. neighbor loved the laulau but she really enjoys salty things. I readily admit it was too salty for me. My husband liked it and, bottom line, that’s all that really matters.
Kona Maka’eo Walking Path and Community Garden
We found a sign at the Maka’eo Walking Path noting if we walked around the path 3 times, we’d surpass 2 miles of steps for the day. Oh, man, what did we do before we counted our steps and distances? Didn’t we just walk, by putting one foot in front of the other without any goal to reach a certain number of steps before the end of the day? How did we ever make it through the day back in those dark ages without this knowledge?
Apple knows. In fact, there is a way to turn off the STAND or BREATHE function on my Apple Watch but I’m too lazy to look for it. So, instead little irritations build. Further, I am irritated that it started with 5,000 steps and then lord knows who proclaimed, no, we must do 10,000 steps a day. Screw those people. And Apple, too. Don’t let your watch tell you what to do. Resist.
Reminds me of the story about running into Patricia Clarkson at Safeway in Kona and mistaking her for Cyndi Lauper.
If you are looking for a relaxing stroll without being forced to count your steps or maybe you want to run or jog, the Maka’eo Walking Path offers all of those options. The day we were there last week, it was fairly warm, middle of the afternoon, and not very many people on the paved path at all.
We spotted large numbers of mongooses runningamuck. Feral cats live in this community garden, too, but we didn’t see any.
It is a little difficult to find if you don’t know where the Maka’eo Walking Path is located, and GPS is not a lot of help. So here are my directions. Drive down Kuakini until it ends by the Old Pavillion. Park there. On the mauka side of the road, walk beyond the store with the sign that warns: no skateboarding, no camping, no loitering, no NOTHING, at the canoe place. Go north a little bit further past the skateboard park and you will find the Maka’eo Walking Path.
This is an Australian Fire Tree, which I believe I’ve also discovered in Golden Gate Park, except this is in Kona. There are many sections devoted to certain types of plants and cared for by individuals as well as non-profit organizations. Not as many flowers were in bloom this time of year, though.
We have been searching for a tall lipstick palm for our front yard since our gardener Charlie removed our pathetic dwarf avocado. His irrigation friend Alistaire seemed to think the avocado tree was diseased. The tips of the leaves had all turned brown, and this has been going for on years. Our local celebrity gardener Barbara Bolton said it might be because we watered it too much, and that 10 minutes a day every other day is too much.
Who knows why the avocado tree responded so negatively to the sun and sea air of our yard in Hawaii? Charlie found a front-yard replacement plant, a lipstick palm at Lowes, but he claimed $200 was too much to pay for a 4-foot palm. He assures us we could find at least a 7-foot lipstick palm for around $300.
These palms in the Maka’eo Walking Path are not lipstick palms, and I don’t think they are bottle palms, either. They could very well be Madagascar palms, originating from Madagascar, an island off the coast of southern Africa. Otherwise known as dragon trees.
11 Months to Sell a Home in Davis, CA
Not since the days of short sales that pretty much ended 8 years ago, I have never encountered such a difficult time to sell a home in Davis, CA. The sellers and I met in early March of last year; they were referred to me. Very nice people, and I sincerely wanted to help them receive top dollar for their home. Of course, part of the problem was they were certain they could get more for the home than I suggested.
Fortunately, they owned the home free and clear, and had invested, according to the seller, a few hundred thousand. They remodeled the kitchen, added a permitted sunroom and updated the back yard. The sellers really wanted to try a higher sales price based on their upgrades, and I agreed to give it a shot. Another agent might have refused the listing under those circumstances, but not this Sacramento Realtor.
My feeling is if I like the sellers, we get along, their happiness is of primary importance to me. We can argue all day about the price, but in the end, it is the seller who chooses. Not only that, but the City of Davis needs to complete an inspection, and the inspection for this house reflected about a dozen permit violations.
We went on the market in early April and began working on clearing the problems to gain the occupancy certificate. Many showings ensued and we held many open houses, but no offers.
One of the things I do for my clients is send buyer feedback. All of the feedback complained about the dark kitchen, the dark granite counters, they didn’t care for the sunroom and they didn’t like the back yard, plus many complained about the layout. Finally, the sellers agreed to lower the price.
Then agents in Davis began calling to inquire: what’s the deal with this Davis house? As I typically do when days on market seem lengthy, we pulled a new MLS number with a new listing to attract more attention. Plus, when we reset the days on market, it makes the listing more inviting to buyers.
Shortly after that, we received an offer and went into escrow. But the appraisal came in low. The buyers had already removed inspection contingencies, and the seller readily agreed to sell at the new appraised value. However, as soon as the sellers agreed to lower the price, the buyers decided it wasn’t low enough. They wanted to renegotiate instead. Who knows what makes people think this way?
These are the situations where a seller might wonder if it’s worth suing the buyers, but they really just wanted to sell a home in Davis. We cut the buyers loose.
Next set of buyers didn’t make it very far in escrow. I don’t even recall what their objection was or why they canceled. My job is to keep up the sellers’ spirits and to perform. I promised that I would find another buyer, a real buyer, a buyer who loves their home and will close escrow. But it would take one more price reduction, and the sellers agreed.
Sure enough, after we adjusted the price to where it should have been in the first place, we received a fast offer. We went into escrow about a week before Christmas. If this home had been priced where it needed to be last April, we would have received multiple offers. But the sellers did not want to do it at that time. Most agents would not work this hard to sell a home in Davis, but I will do it. Sometimes the only way to make sure a seller understands the market is to show it to them through the eyes of a lengthy listing. That is OK with me.
Because I will work on that house until it sells. I do not abandon my sellers nor get frustrated with them. Mrs. Seller told me yesterday that she was very pleased with my patience and upbeat attitude when we would speak. Mr. Seller said I was always calm, and was his rock throughout the sale process.
I was determined to sell a home in Davis in the timeframe that best suited my sellers. Not in the timeframe that best suited me. So while I sat dripping wet on the beach at Kahulu’u after snorkeling yesterday, I paused to think about these sellers, and how sincerely happy I am their home closed escrow on Friday, January 18th! We sold to real buyers this time, just like I promised.
Sorry we are experiencing system issues. Please try again.
