Email Elizabethcash for keys
Tax Evasion, Cash for Keys and Bill Bryson
Some concerned citizen and friend to a certain individual who had his home foreclosed upon sent me an email about cash for keys. So often these emails are from the individuals themselves — those who are directly affected by their own actions — but they are disguised as a mother, a girlfriend or a neighbor who is seeking an answer. They ask questions that make me wonder if they made it past the sixth grade.
The problem with relying on what you learned in school is so much of it is garbage. And that’s assuming in the first place that a) you paid attention in school and b) you absorbed the information given and c) you still remember any of it, especially when you get to that certain age in life. Finding out the real facts about what went on in history is a bit disturbing; it’s little like finding out everybody lied to you about Santa Claus.
No single person wrote a high school-mandated history book, and when you get committees involved, things get twisted. Oh, nooooo, we can’t put that negative thing in the book. So we’re spoon-fed a lot of fabricated details and shown only the bright and positive sides of our historical figures. If you really want to know the truth and what happened, you’ve got to read and you’ve got to give a crap, which a lot of people don’t and don’t.
So, this blog is not for those people who don’t and don’t. It’s for those of you who do and do. I am wholly engrossed in One Summer: America 1927, by Bill Bryson. Not just because I enjoy Bryson’s sense of humor, although, to be honest, he could write about a day in the life of an earthworm and I would read it. It’s about Charles Lindbergh’s extraordinary flight to Paris; how Commander Bryd never made it to the North Pole; what a slob and disgusting man the otherwise singularly talented Babe Ruth was; the illiteracy, stupidity and anti-semitism of Henry Ford; the idiocy and profitability of Prohibition; why the greatest flood ever in America of the Mississippi River carried so little weight at the time; and how it’s a major miracle that our country’s leaders managed to shepherd America, stay out of jail and survive the year.
Of course, I’m only halfway through, so I’m probably not even hitting the highlights. The other thing that strikes me about this book is its parallels to modern life. So many things remain the same. Just the names change.
Above all, the book serves as a reminder that it wasn’t being a cold-hearted murderer or a crook that brought down Al Capone. It was tax evasion that put that guy behind bars. His lawyers could argue all they wanted that the government should not be condoning criminal activity by partaking in its profits through taxes, but it didn’t work.
Just like it’s tax evasion facing the guy with the cash for keys question. He wanted to know if after his friend’s home was foreclosed upon and the bank came out to offer the tenant cash for keys, if he would have to pay taxes on the money he did not allegedly receive. Shortly after that email, I received another asking if the recipient must report the cash for keys payment as income.
He probably didn’t appreciate my sense of humor when I said if money rained down from the heavens and he picked up $20 bills in the street, that’s income, even if he did nothing to earn it. I didn’t explain that the bank reports cash for keys payments to the IRS and probably issues 1099s, because people who have to ask that kind of question probably don’t file a tax return.
But I am a Sacramento real estate agent; I’m not a tax accountant. Ask your tax accountant for advice, and pick up a copy of Bill Bryon’s: One Summer.
Elizabeth Weintraub Can Sell Even This Home in Sacramento
People have asked this Sacramento real estate agent why her clients are so ecstatic about her to write such fabulous and expressive reviews after escrow closes. They ask how do I generate such positive feedback when I’m so busy? I generally don’t get the usual type of reviews that just say I did a good job and the clients would recommend me, and then they could go about their normal business and forget my name. Clients instead tend to say that the Elizabeth Weintraub Team does the supernatural and performs impossible feats, and they would pretty much strew rose petals everywhere we walked if they could afford it. Why do they say these things when all we really do is close that sale for them? I bet some people think we bribe them, but my clients are not the kind of people to accept a bribe or we might have tried it.
Here is an example of a remarkable short sale that closed against all odds in Sacramento. I started to work on this in July of last year. The seller did not have a key and the home was tenant occupied. I prefer that tenants move out because some are uncooperative and, even if they initially appear cooperative, soon as they learn it’s a short sale, many stop answering the phone or the door. Even though it’s against the law, they often stop paying rent, stop letting buyers see the home and all-in-all become a general nuisance. The seller hoped for the best.
I was my charming self, though, because Elizabeth Weintraub can sell, and persuaded the tenant to let us show the home on Friday afternoons. We quickly went into contract with a cash buyer. This was a buyer with whom we had closed another short sale in Antelope. He was a real estate agent. We asked him to produce updated proof of funds because his proof of funds was dated several months ago. Banks want docs dated within 30 days. He couldn’t or wouldn’t do it. So, after issuing a Notice to Perform and he failed to perform, the seller canceled this particular buyer.
The tenants were getting a bit testy by this time, but they cooperated and we went into escrow with another buyer, short sale buyer #2. Finally, the credit union issued a verbal counter offer. These responses are rarely in writing. The credit union demanded a higher price. They dinged around with this short sale for so long that the prices had gone up. I proposed the higher price to the buyer, but the buyer balked and elected to cancel, which in my book was a pretty stupid move because what kind of home would that buyer be able to purchase now? In a seller’s market when almost every property has a handful of offers? Not for me to worry about. Thank goodness I was not his agent.
We sold the home again to a new buyer in December: buyer #3 for this short sale. After battling the credit union for months, we secured short sale approval rather quickly this time. The buyer completed the home inspection and was getting ready to close escrow. The seller gave notice to the tenants and one of them moved out. The other tenant at the 11th hour refused. He told the seller that he wasn’t moving until the sheriff threw him out. The buyer’s agent called me to say the buyer was canceling because the buyer could not move into the home.
The purchase contract stated the seller would deliver the property without a tenant in it at closing. The seller could not deliver on the promise because one of the tenants refused to vacate.
My idea was to pay the tenant to move. That’s what he was angling for, cash for keys. It was cheaper than evicting him, and much safer than dragging him out in the back alley and whomping the living daylights out of him, which is what I suspect crossed some people’s minds at that point. But the buyer instead asked to cancel the escrow.
When it rains on your parade, you parade in the rain. I’ve learned that lesson in life. We put the home back on the market, pending rescission. In the confidential agent remarks, we wrote that:
- Potential buyers could not view the home
- Potential buyers could not view the home ever
- Potential buyers must purchase the home without ever seeing the inside of the home
- Potential buyers must purchase the home with a hostile tenant living inside.
- Potential buyers must pay about $25,000 more than our original list price
- The potential buyer’s agent would receive a severely discounted commission, an amount so low that most agents would refuse to even write an offer.
We received about a half-dozen full-price offers at those terms and conditions. Believe it. Because it happened. Because the real estate market in Sacramento is so insane and wild that a buyer would purchase a home they could not see with a tenant who would not move at the top of market value. Did I mention it needed to be all cash?
The existing buyer changed his mind about canceling and closed escrow last week.
Moreover, when a buyer’s agent told me last week that his buyer, who was purchasing a stripped out and vandalized home I had listed in north Sacramento, decided to try to renegotiate the agreed-upon sales price, the answer was no, followed by hell no.
If you’ve got a home to sell in Sacramento, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. I’m more than happy to do it, and I guarantee you’ll be thrilled with my performance.
