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Reasons to Buy a Home in Curtis Park Neighborhood of Sacramento
The unique architecture of homes in Curtis Park will capture your heart.
Today my blog is a little bit different. I am featuring a member of the Elizabeth Weintraub Team, Exclusive Buyer’s Agent, Amy McMullan. In Amy’s first year of real estate, she sold 15 homes, if that gives you an idea of how well this super star adapted to the world of Sacramento real estate. Most agents in their first year are lucky to sell 2 or 3 homes, and some never ever sell more annually. Amy offers compassion, enthusiasm and a strong commitment to ensuring client satisfaction and happiness.
I asked Amy if she would like to write about her neighborhood and tell you in her own words why you might want to buy a home in Curtis Park and what she loves personally about her community:
Amy McMullan Explains Why You Should Buy a Home in Curtis Park
Amy McMullan, Exclusive Buyer’s Agent, Elizabeth Weintraub Team.
“Once you have lived in Curtis Park, you will find it hard to live anywhere else in Sacramento. Curtis Park is the neighborhood between Broadway (N), Sutterville Rd.(S), Franklin Blvd. (E) and the railroad tracks (W) within the 95818 zip code.
When I moved to Sacramento in 2004, I fell in love with Curtis Park. I did my best to bid on a few “fixers” in the area, but I was priced out and ended up settling for Midtown. After living in Midtown for over a year I got a call from my trusty agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, alerting me to a new listing on Portola Way. The house turned out to need a total remodel (down to the studs). I ended up buying it and completing a full remodel, which was worth every penny when the house appraised for much more than the purchase price plus remodel cost. After living in this home for years, I couldn’t believe how happy I felt enjoying the good life in Curtis Park.
The Curtis Park neighborhood is reminiscent of Marin County. The streets are lined with old growth trees, the park itself is lush and dramatic, and the neighbors are known for being progressive and open minded. This is not a place where most people buy their first home; the average selling price of a home in this area is $575,000. But it is a place of enchantment, where one can live in a distinctive yet mindful neighborhood nestled in the heart of the city. If you buy a home in Curtis Park, you might never leave.
This neighborhood is walking distance from Gunther’s Ice Cream, Pangea Bier Cafe, Café Dantorels, Curtis Park Market, Track 7 Brewing Company, Taylors Market and Taylor’s Kitchen, the delicious and seductive Freeport Bakery, and Chocolate Fish Coffee (coming soon). This neighborhood is also serviced by the 4th Ave / Wayne Hultgren light rail station on 21st and 4th making this one of the easiest neighborhoods to safely and easily access public transit.
Curtis Park is one of the only neighborhoods in Sacramento with a dedicated arts and community center, the Sierra 2 Center at 2791 24th St. This vintage Mission style building is home to the Sierra Curtis Park Neighborhood Association and offers yoga classes, art and music classes for children and adults, activities for seniors, and hosts dozens of events and benefits throughout the year.
This building also houses the 24th Street Theater, hosting year-round concerts, dance performances, intimate musicals and plays. Neighbors who are in-the-know gather daily for an “unofficial” dog park in the expansive fields behind the Sierra 2 Center.
For the history buffs, Curtis Park was built on a 200-acre farm established in 1852. The neighborhood itself did not begin to take form until 1887. Because much of the subdivision development took place before significant dam infrastructure was complete in 1915, there are many high-water bungalow style homes in this neighborhood.
You can learn more about the history of Curtis Park in a splendid book titled, Sacramento’s Curtis Park by Dan Murphy, published by Arcadia Publishing. If you would like to know more reasons to buy a home in Curtis Park, please call Amy McMullan from the Elizabeth Weintraub Team at 916.737.6664.”
More photos of Curtis Park © Sacramento Realtor Amy McMullan:
Cafe Dantorels offers casual dining, take-out or delivery in Curtis Park.
Home in Curtis Park near the Park and Curtis Way.
Sierra 2 Center and 24th Street Theatre showcases local and international talent.
Classic vintage home in Curtis Park boasts spring flowers.
William Curtis Park is 18.57 acres, 2 tennis courts, basketball, picnic grass and one-mile walking trail.
When the Seller is a No Show for a Curtis Park Agent
Front porch of a home in Curtis Park.
Although my calves ached like no tomorrow after our visit to Malakoff Diggins on Sunday, I showed up bright and early on Monday for a listing appointment in Curtis Park. I was to meet the owner of the home, and he had scheduled an appointment with the tenants. My husband says the reason my calves ache is due to the curse of the single-level home, but he doesn’t count our step-down family room which, if you count the step up to the living room as well as the kitchen could very well be steps.
I pulled up to the curb, crawled out of my vehicle and shouted out the address to the people sitting on the front porch because I could not see a house number. Is this the right house? I asked. Oh, yes, they replied but everything has been canceled. What? The seller had not called to make me aware of the cancellation. When he called, he said we met 10 years ago and while he did not buy a home, he was impressed with me.
I’ve come a long way in Sacramento real estate over the past 10 years, having moved from a Master’s Club member into mega-production territory, but I did not tell him that. I asked who else he was meeting with, and he told me. Asked if I had ever heard of the guy. The last time I heard of that guy was when his seller called me, no joke, and asked me to list her home in Curtis Park. She wasn’t happy with whatever he was doing and wanted to hire a different Curtis Park agent.
This realization didn’t hit me right away. It’s when I pulled up his last 12 month’s of production as a listing agent that I recognized the address of the property and looked the owner. Sure enough, same listing agent. That particular Curtis Park agent has listed and sold one house a month, whereas I have listed and sold more than one home a week over the past year throughout a four-county area. That person has been licensed for 5 years, and I’ve been working in real estate for 41 years. I believe sellers deserve a fair comparison.
I asked the tenants if I could tour the interior, since I was already there. Nope, no way, Jose, they said, tattooed arms folded. No can do. Uh uh. Not gonna happen. I continued to press and explain my situation. Because after all, there is a reason I have survived in real estate all of these years. I’m just a Curtis Park agent who would like to give the seller an estimate of value. Then I asked about something else and, voila, the doors to the home opened. Just like that. They gave me a personal tour.
Why Other Curtis Park Agents Gave This Seller a Higher Price
A seller in Curtis Park wants to put her home on the market next year and is looking for a Sacramento real estate agent now. She is calling agents to find out how how much her home is worth today. Listing now or waiting for spring is a hot discussion for many sellers at the moment, but the fact remains the price an agent names today is not the price the home will be worth next spring. That home in Curtis Park could be worth more or it could be worth less.
Plus, if it’s a Curtis Park home that few people want to buy due to location, condition or the seller insists on an over-the-top-of-market price, it could not sell at all. That’s always a very real possibility that few want to face.
I am always happy to talk with sellers who have future plans and are not ready to act right now. For one thing, if they are calling a bunch of other real estate agents, it’s probable many of those agents won’t still be in the real estate business by the time the seller is ready, which certainly decreases my competition — day after day I receive notifications via LinkedIn of agents who used to work in real estate and have since taken jobs in other industries. But I also want to remain in sellers’ minds when they are ready to list a home.
If they forget my last name, they can do something simple like go to Goggle and put in Elizabeth and Sacramento Real Estate, and out of the top 5 hits, four will be me. Or, they can just search on the keywords “Elizabeth Sacramento,” and in the middle of links for the incredibly delectable Ginger Elizabeth chocolate store in Midtown, they’ll find my website. It’s easy to find Elizabeth Weintraub on Google.
This particular seller remembered my name, though, because she contacted me a second time. By now, she has talked to other real estate agents, and she says two of them gave her a higher price than I did, and they both outbid each other. It’s so frustrating when this happens because I don’t want to say anything bad about another real estate agent, and I understand why they feel the need to falsify information to the seller, but to intentionally lie is considered unethical.
They don’t see it as lying. Because that would make them bad people. They see it as being overly optimistic. They hope if it doesn’t sell at the price they name, well, the seller will be willing to lower the price.
The seller doesn’t see it as lying because she just wants the top price and doesn’t really understand, I suspect, that she sets the price, not the agent. The price has to be based on something, though, such as comparable sales, what similar homes have sold at and not plucked from thin air simply to try to win a listing.
I suggested the seller call a couple more Curtis Park agents to see if she can’t push the price up. Get a couple more bidding against each other to try to win the listing. I was kidding with her, of course, because the price is really whatever the buyer will pay. I don’t choose the sales price. I give sellers enough information as to why I believe a certain home sales price will work, and I substantiate it by identifying homes within a 1/2 mile radius that are the same condition, location, type and age, and similar square footage.
The seller chooses the price and the market takes it from there. Buyers for a home in Curtis Park have the final word.
Remember, the seller has the first word, the agent second. The seller always picks the price. Sellers should choose an agent they like and trust and not the agent who pops up waving her bidding fan sporting the highest number, like at an auction.
