Email Elizabethbuying homes in east sacramento
Selling 2 Homes to Buy as a Couple
A couple called yesterday to inquire about a pending sale I have listed in West Sacramento and whether they could see it. They plan on selling 2 homes in Sacramento to buy one as a couple. I’m not sure where they found the listing online but not every website out there lists the status of homes online. Many just show the home for sale and they don’t tell the website visitor whether the home has sold or is pending, which is why it’s oh-so-much better to get your listings directly from a Sacramento REALTOR who can sign you up for automatic emails from our mothership: MLS.
But if you’re just starting your hunt to buy a Sacramento home, you don’t think of that. You think, oh, look, here is a website of homes for sale, and there you go. You just want to get an idea of what’s for sale. Sure, you bought a home before, like this couple who called, because they each own a home. He owns a cottage among the leafy streets of homes in East Sacramento. Her home is in Sacramento. They have decided that West Sacramento is a good place to look for a home because a buyer gets so much more for the money.
That’s true. A comparable home in East Sacramento would cost at least $100,000 more than similar sized homes in West Sacramento, and most likely double. This couple had not yet talked to a mortgage broker, but they knew they wanted to sell at least one home. We discussed making a contingent offer on a home to buy. That was enlightening, because they weren’t sure how to go about selling 2 homes in Sacramento to buy one.
The thing is a mortgage broker will need to qualify this couple to own 3 homes. To make 3 mortgage payments. You can’t say you will rent out one of the homes because there is no rental record if they are not now rentals. Most lenders today want to see at least 6 months to a year or more of rental receipts. There are bridge loan options available but they are expensive. It would be much better to get preapproved, put one home off market in MLS until they find a home to buy and then write the offer subject to selling the home, which then immediately goes live. That’s the best option that safeguards this couple if they follow through with selling 2 homes to buy one.
Well, the number one option is sell both homes and use the cash proceeds to buy a home without a contingency in West Sacramento, but that’s not a) convenient for most people or b) really necessary. We can write contingent offers and get those offers accepted. We do it all the time.
The problem is waiting for that oh-so-perfect beautiful home that 3 other buyers want, and you have no preapproval letter and no homes on the market. If you’re in that situation, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. We’ve been helping people in this situation for decades.
An East Sacramento Realtor Is Not About Selling Homes in East Sac
An East Sacramento Realtor does more than sell Tudors.
This East Sacramento Realtor does not simply sell homes in East Sacramento, that is not the primary focus of my job, contrary to what people outside of Sacramento real estate tend to believe. Selling homes is a small part of my job as a real estate agent. The technical aspects, ensuring the transaction is a smooth journey, focusing on constantly fine-tuning negotiation strategies, those things are all part of the recipe for success employed by a top producer. But none of that is the be-all and end-all.
Remaining a successful and busy East Sacramento Realtor year after year means engaging with people and managing that interaction. Period. It’s not about East Sacramento real estate. That’s just the peripheral. It means reserving or abandoning judgment. I find that many people tend to size each other up too quickly, forming impressions that can be flat-out wrong and then stubbornly latch on to those beliefs, refusing to let go much less consider another viewpoint.
How This East Sacramento Realtor Manages Her Practice
It is about working smart, not necessarily hard but, if it’s required, also being willing to jump into freezing water in bare feet. That’s the life of an East Sacramento Realtor. She tries to ensure that her actions prevent her clients from experiencing disappointments, setbacks or insurmountable challenges, but she is still able to do what it takes. No prima donna behavior.
This starts by putting the client first. Putting a client first means not thinking about the agent’s own personal gain, not thinking inward at all, really. The way to make a client’s dreams and goals come true is to find out what those hopes and wishes are. An agent has got to ask questions, process answers, ask more questions, probe, clarify. So many agents are afraid to ask questions. They worry they’ll offend. Be too personal. It’s all about being personal.
I guarantee you, every single person who is selling her home in East Sacramento or buying a home in East Sacramento is different from each other. An East Sacramento Realtor can’t satisfy her client’s needs if she hasn’t taken the time to discover those desires. If she “pigeon-holes” her client, everybody loses. If you prefer a top East Sacramento Realtor with decades of experience, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
The Skinny on the McKinley Village Housing Development in East Sacramento
We are selling homes in McKinley Village. The Elizabeth Weintraub Team represented a home buyer for a roof-top patio plan with a first-floor bedroom in the mid-500’s. I should say that whenever I receive calls about homes in East Sacramento, some of the questions that invariably pop up are about the McKinley Village housing development, which is why we are becoming experts on this development, spearheaded by developer Phil Angelides.
Angelides has faced a long battle to bring the McKinley Village housing development to fruition. For a while there, all the main thoroughfares in East Sacramento featured lawn signs against McKinley Village. Some, not all, of the objections are based on NIMBY. Which is also interesting because there is another project clearing ground in Upper Land Park for new housing on 5th Street, called The Mill at Broadway, and nobody in Upper Land Park seems to carry on with much public opposition, even though it will bring more traffic and air pollution to this densely populated area. Upper Land Park residents seem to be of the mindset, yay, get rid of that eyesore and bring in a community. East Sacramento residents appear the opposite.
An issue with the McKinley Village housing development has been access to the 49-acre site. First, I hate to say this, but please let me point out that this development lies between the Business 80 freeway and the Union Pacific railroad tracks. It’s not exactly your premier location, following the adage of location, location, location in real estate. 52 trains a day go by. Who wakes up one morning to declare, Holy Toledo, Henry, you know let’s move out of this dump and take up residence in a new area sandwiched between the freeway and rail tracks. Doesn’t that sound lovely? Not to mention, the site of the former city landfill, but what the hey. The tradeoff is it will be brand new housing. Plus, a 10-minute commute to downtown Sacramento.
Construction begins summer of 2015 on a tunnel that will provide the main point of entry into the development. It will cost around $10 million and take a year-and-a-half to complete. The spot of entry is between 40th Street and Tivoli from C Street. The secondary location will be to improve the existing overcrossing from 28th Street. My real estate office, Lyon, is located just a few blocks away down 28th Street on the corner of J Street, and while I almost get killed now trying to pull out from the garage alley onto 28th Street, I imagine the traffic will pick up. Which means Lyon Real Estate has a great spot for visibility, and we’ll probably get more phone calls about the McKinley Village development than any other real estate office in Sacramento.
The tunnel is slated for completion around April of 2016 and construction should begin on the model homes next October. These are ultimately 60 different styles of homes in the works, ranging from 1,200 to 3,000 square feet, offering 312 single family homes and 4 six-plex condo buildings. The six-plex condo buildings lie in the center of the property, most likely will have the least amount of exterior noise, and the top units have an elevator. How cool is that? We have all the floor plans and model names.
If you’re interested in buying a home in East Sacramento close to the development at today’s affordable prices I suggest you take a look at my listing on #1 Declan Court in Sacramento. These are a group of brand new homes on the former site of 6014 T Street, 3 master suites, solar and priced at $449K with all upgrades. Call or text your East Sacramento Realtor, Elizabeth Weintraub, Lyon RE, at 916.233.6759, for more information. Of course, we’re also happy to show you homes in McKinley Village.
Remember, once you step on a builder’s property without a REALTOR, your agent might not be able represent you if you are not registered with the builder through your agent. But call us, we can work around it if you’ve already been there. Sure, call the top producing Elizabeth Weintraub Team today at 916.233.6759. Get your own buyer’s agent, like us. It’s the smart thing to do.
