Email Elizabethcreative problem solving
A Previous Deputy Sheriff and Now a Sacramento Realtor
Clients are often astonished to learn that I was a previous Deputy Sheriff and now a Sacramento Realtor. I realize these two professions share some similar qualities in common, but not everybody else sees it. I used to joke that the quality of the passengers I drive around now is much better than it was back in 1988!
All joking aside, as a law enforcement officer I often had to problem solve. Solutions were required in split seconds. I worked in West Sacramento, Broderick and Bryte. At that time, it was a pretty rough area. The Yolo County Sheriff’s Department covered all the unincorporated areas of the county. West Sacramento had not yet incorporated.
There was quite a bit of work as drug labs were a staple for the area, and crime was abundant. With approximately 52 hotels on the main strip, there was no shortage of calls for police to respond. A good place to work for a cop, as it was busy night after night. Whatever the dispatcher sent you to do required great problem solving skill and any challenges were immediately dealt with. My job was to keep the peace and protect the public. As a Deputy Sheriff Coroner, I also worked assisting the Coroner’s office and all that entails, I’ll just leave that up to your imagination.
For the first few years, I worked as required in the jail, but I really wanted to work on patrol. I wrote a K9 patrol standard operating procedure. Then bought and trained a dog with my own money. His name was Darth Vader. This did not cost the county one cent and so they agreed to my proposal. I was taken out of jail operations and placed in the patrol division! As a previous Deputy Sheriff and now a Sacramento Realtor, I still love to drive around the county.
I enjoyed my job as a public servant helping people, protecting them and applying the law to the various crimes I encountered. I worked night shifts as I’m a night owl. My job was drive around and look for crimes in progress. I was never bored. Working in Patrol driving all night long was some of the best days of my life. You can never really know your capabilities until they are tested. Fortunately I had great training. I carefully prepared my safety equipment and tools every night. I learned from every encounter. My ability to read people and evaluate situations that appeared out of the ordinary, serve me well to this day. As a previous Deputy Sheriff and now a Sacramento Realtor, I use all my past experience in the present to negotiate the best terms for my clients.
One evening I took my dad on a “ride along.” I pulled over the driver of a car for expired vehicle registration. Came back to my patrol car and ran the suspect’s name with dispatch. He had no driver’s license and he had warrants for his arrest. I put the suspect in handcuffs, patted him down while reading him his Miranda rights. Another squad car transported him to the jail as I had a civilian in my car.
My dad was so shocked that anyone would drive a car without registration, insurance and lack of a driver’s license. He said, ” Kid, you can handle things all by yourself.” I said: “Dad, all problems have to be dealt with as quickly as possible, before they mushroom into more serious issues.” Little did I know that same statement would apply to my job in real estate all these many years later.
If you want to protect your investment in real estate, call the Weintraub & Wallace team today 916-233-5967. We protect your interests.
— JaCi Wallace
How to Rely on Creative Problem Solving for Sacramento Real Estate
Realtors rely daily on creative problem solving abilities.
Creative problem solving can’t really be taught in schools or silly seminars, you’ve either got the ability or you don’t. If you have the ability, it can be developed and refined, but if you don’t have the ability to employ creative problem solving, then your next best bet is to align yourself with somebody who does. It’s especially helpful to have this ability when you’re selling Sacramento real estate, because no two situations are ever identical.
If I were to try to teach another agent, though, how to hone in on creative problem solving, I would begin with exercises. You know, set up a fictional situation and then ask for solutions, see how many different types of approaches the agent can come up with. First, one identifies the players: their strengths and weaknesses; next the final outcome desired. What is left over in the middle is how you do it. It’s called critical thinking. It’s like those diagrams with lines and arrows predicting outcomes: if you do A and B then proceed to C, unless you do B without A, then go to E.
I realize this sounds overly simplistic to many but many complicated things appear simple when they are broken down into separate components and analyzed. I’ll give you an example. Say a seller has moved out of state and a buyer’s agent goes over to check on the house and make sure it is ready for an appraisal. Perhaps she discovers the key won’t open the door. That’s a common scenario with keys and it happens a lot. One thing I always do when given a set of keys is lock the door, insert the key into the lock and turn to make sure the key works. Then I place the keys into the lockbox. So, when an agent calls to say the key doesn’t work, I can pretty much figure the odds are it is operator error.
Unless it is not. When construction crews have been into the home to make repairs after squatters broke in and vandalized the place, though, the odds of operator error go way down. I left the buyer’s agent a voice mail message and suggested she give it the old college try, but if the keys don’t work, then she has my permission to call a locksmith and change the locks. I called the seller and asked if the keys had been changed. Not to the seller’s knowledge. But the seller was perfectly OK with changing the locks, anything to get the transaction closed.
The agent called back and left me a voice mail saying she did not own the home and did not feel comfortable changing the locks. She wondered if the seller had other keys. This is where creative problem solving comes in. I called the agent, got her in person this time, and relayed the conversation I had had with the seller. It went something like this: I told the seller that the buyer’s agent is one of those agents who needs to follow all the rules and will not change the locks, so you might have to drive a couple hundred miles to change the locks yourself . . . when the buyer’s agent cut me off and said she would gladly change the locks. Could I recommend a locksmith? You betcha.
See, nobody wants to be accused of always following the rules. Nobody wants to be a pansy. There is getting the job done and there is following the rules. Sometimes you’ve got to focus on getting the job done. If you need a creative Sacramento REALTOR who solves problems daily, you can call me anytime, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916.233.6759. I answer my phone.
