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Sacramento Sellers Who Become Their Own Worst Enemy
Resort at Yachats, Oregon
Despite all of the crap-slinging earlier in the day, this Sacramento Realtor enjoyed a most spectacular birthday yesterday on the coast of Oregon at Yachats. I turned 63 on Sunday. The day began very strangely. One of my sellers left me a voice mail after hours and then followed it up with an extremely angry text message because some agent did not call him first before coming over to see his home. The buyer’s agent made a mistake, did not fully read the MLS showing instructions and mistook my seller’s home for a vacant home. It’s not often those types of things happen, but many buyer’s agents are not known for attention-to-detail abilities.
I expressed my apologies and contacted the agent to find out why she thought my seller’s home was vacant. She didn’t gain access from the key in the lockbox because the door was locked from the inside. I apologized again to my seller, offered assurance that this is not how agents generally show homes, yet he continued to explode. What did he want me to do? He could not answer that question. He ranted on about things that didn’t make any sense until I realized, uh, oh, this is not a rationale response from a normal person. I texted whether he would like me to cancel his open house for the afternoon. Why yes, he did not want an open house now, nor did he even want me to continue listing his home after 2 days on the market . . . all because another agent did not read MLS showing instructions.
Fog creeps into Yachats, Oregon on big fat feet.
These things happen, and selling is a stressful situation. Still, the guy was a nut job. Crazy, unstable and perverted weird, come to find out. I agreed to cancel his listing but let him know that I am not the broker. Lyon Real Estate is the broker and only a Lyon manager can cancel a listing. I do not have that authority as a broker-associate but I would ask our manager to do it, if he is available. Seriously, dude, screaming at me on my birthday when I’m on vacation and only trying to help is not conducive to this seller’s cause.
That is the point when he threatened me.
Fortunately, my office manager was able to handle the cancellation. Managers are not always available on a Sunday. My team member removed the lockbox but the seller refused to come to the door to retrieve his key. It does not bear well for a seller when agents see this guy’s listing was canceled twice in a row. The previous agent had removed all of the marketing comments and all of her photographs before she canceled her listing with him. That is a sure sign the agent was, let’s just use the word, unhappy, with the seller. Then, I blocked his cellphone number from my phone and went on about celebrating my birthday.
Dusk at Yachats, Oregon
My husband and I had headed off down 101 for the town of Florence but realized once we drove past the Heceta Lighthouse and the town was nowhere to be seen that we should head back to Yachats, which is a quiet town on the central Oregon coast of 600 or so residents, if we didn’t want to miss our massage. Yachats is the town where I received my 4th gold in Level 10 in Ingress, nestled along the Pacific with lots of places that serve fish and chips. Even though it’s a little chilly, people still sit outside under tents to dine.
As a birthday surprise, my husband got us a couple’s massage, followed by a facial for me. I needed to quickly arrange all of my business for that afternoon as I had a couple more open houses happening, and needed to make sure I could still follow up with my clients in a reasonable timeframe. The facial was the best facial I’ve ever had. No joke. It is called a four-layer facial, which involves 4 different facial masks. My skin is smooth and supple and filled with moisture, which is the complete of opposite of my skin texture in the dry weather of Sacramento. I almost dozed off, but woke myself with a short snort of a snore during the foot massage part, and cracked my mask, which was a tad startling.
When we came back to our room, though, I sold one of my other new listings, which was a pool home in Carmichael, held open on Sunday. Multiple offers, too. Made those sellers extremely giddy. Later that evening, during a magnificent dinner of moist halibut pan-seared in bran oil complemented by various assortments of fungi, I sold another home in the Med Center that had also been held open on Sunday. Spotted the full price offer on my cell. Yup, Sunday was an excellent day for me and two of my clients — who obviously have trust and faith, not to mention the good sense to appreciate what I do. Sometimes, the best thing an agent can do is to quickly cut free the odd-one-out.
You can read more about Elizabeth Weintraub’s 62nd Birthday.
My 62nd Birthday in Maui
I forgot it is my birthday when I got up this morning in Maui. Completely slipped my mind until I noticed a couple of Happy Birthday emails. This is what Maui can do to you. Oh, yeah. I’m 62 today. I am happy any day that I open my eyes after waking up. Today isn’t any different, but it does mean another year has gone by and I am looking forward to the next — sort of like one’s own personal New Year’s, without the horrible drunk people passed out on your living room floor.
Just about every year now, I try to take a mid-year vacation around my birthday and let that celebration roll on past the Fourth of July. The only thing that’s uncomfortable about that kind of planning is our poor cats are home with the pet sitters to deal with the awful sound of fireworks, hiding under the bed with their little kitty paws over their ears. That scenario is not gonna happen this year, though, because my wonderful husband is at home in Land Park, tending to their kitty needs and hearth.
He goes away every year with “the boys” from college to various spots where guys like to go, which often involves visiting frisbee golf courses and playing board games. I prefer to sit quietly and stare at the waves rolling in. Barbara Dow, my team member, enjoys that leisure activity as well. So, the two of us are now in Maui, watching the sun slowly rise to the east. We will lie on the beach, slathered in sunscreen (seems like it defeats the purpose), toes wiggling in the sand and read books after books.
Barbara and I have taken up temporary residence on the top-floor corner suite at the Fairmont Kea Lani, with a wrap-around balcony that presents a magnificent 180-degree view of the ocean. The symphony is warming up as the sun rises higher. I can now hear not only mourning doves but the chatter, tweets and chirps from the entire string section — not a leaf blower around.
Perhaps after a lazy nap on the beach mid-day, we’ll check emails and go for a stroll along the water. Who says you can’t have a restful vacation and keep tabs on your work at the same time? Only people who aren’t in love with their careers. It’s like having the best of both worlds. I just tell clients to please allow for the 3-hour time difference between Maui and Sacramento.
The Birthday Post From Elizabeth Weintraub
Today is my 61st birthday. That means it’s time for the birthday post from Elizabeth Weintraub, something I do every year. This year, I almost didn’t celebrate it. Because let’s face it, what’s one more year? What does turning 61 mean? It’s not a milestone birthday. It means I better be over the fact that I turned 60 last year because it’s all older from here on out. Choices that I may have once had the option to choose among are becoming leaner and fewer. I no longer have all of the time in the world to do whatever my heart contends. The clock is ticking on.
It’s kinda the opposite of uplifting.
In fact, it’s so the opposite of uplifting that I was considering holding off on birthday celebrations until maybe I turn 65 and apply for Medicare. Yup, no more birthday parties or gifts or cards or anything remotely celebratory in connection with my birthday for a while. Not one more birthday post from Elizabeth Weintraub. Then, perhaps I could celebrate in 5-year increments, so it wouldn’t seem like I was getting so old and decrepit. Maybe by the time I turned 90, I would once again be ready to celebrate every year, when I truly have an event to celebrate, something to blog about and make a birthday post from Elizabeth Weintraub mean something.
After I thought this and contemplated it for a while, I concluded that celebrating only milestone birthdays was a pretty stupid and wasted thought process. I should be content with the fact that every morning when I open my eyes that I am still here and have not been abducted by aliens.
Not only that, but the past year has been remarkable. I got to enjoy 3 weeks in the South Pacific over the holidays, finally visited Hilton Head Island, scored front row seats to a musical in Chicago, spent Thanksgiving with both of our families and had the best year in real estate ever over the past four decades, selling $32 million in a depressed market.
Turning 61 is pretty great!
