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Stunning and Affordable Pool Home in Elk Grove
Every once in a blue moon this Sacramento real estate agent receives the opportunity to list and sell an incredibly gorgeous home that spins heads and stimulates lust of homebuyers everywhere. Because I’ve been in the business for four decades, I know it when I enter the home. It’s not just a feeling — although the feeling is part of it — it’s the instant realization when my eyes fall upon the interior that this home will drive buyers crazy. All my sensors go off.
Being in love is the reason homes sell as well as the reason many people get married. I hate to stop to think how many people would never ever get married if it weren’t for falling in love. It’s that temporary state of absolute insanity, when the vision of your loved one consumes every fiber of your body and thoughts of this loveliness floats around in your mind from the time you wake up in the morning and lurks in the background throughout daily activities, that makes life worth living for some. It’s madness. It’s nuts. And many of us would not trade this euphoria for the world.
My new listing, this spectacular pool home in Elk Grove will elicit such ecstasy, I can assure you. For starters, it’s a desirable single-story, semi-custom home built in 2006. It has a ton of upgrades and gorgeous features such as stone arches, walls of layered stone, travertine floors, large and spacious rooms, and fabulous energy in the open layout. Everywhere you look there are special touches.
The kitchen is enormous and features a breakfast nook, all of which overlooks the back-yard pool. A stone fireplace sets off the family room. You’ll find a separate formal dining room. There is more than 2,700 square feet, with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths. The master suite is located toward the back of the home and sports French doors that open to the pool.
Best of all, the piece de resistance is the resplendent back yard with its huge pool as the focal point. Off to the side of the pool on this generously sized 1/4 acre lot are a couple of patios; one patio is partially covered by a pergola. There is even a play area for children. Just imagine the summer fun that can linger way into the winter months because we are lucky enough to live in the Sacramento Valley!
This treasure is located at 9328 Feickert Dr, Elk Grove, CA 95624, offered by Lyon Real Estate and your Elk Grove agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916.233.6759. Open Sunday, July 13, 2014 from 2:00 to 4:00 PM. $445,000.
Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub
Thoughts of an Elk Grove Listing Gets an Agent Through an MRI
Who would have thought that thinking about Elk Grove listings could help an agent get through an MRI? If the MRI technician at UC Davis had never mentioned anything about breathing to me, I probably would have been OK, but he had to tell me. It was just a small rotator cuff tear I was there for. I’ve had a bunch of MRIs over the years, and I had never before been informed about the breathing. I’m not sure if that was an oversight or maybe I just looked like a person who would do a lot of heavy breathing inside the machine. Perhaps it was my Dry Tortugas t-shirt, which the technician also commented on because he used to live in Key West.
That boat trip to Dry Tortugas is now firmly embedded in my brain as an experience for which I am extremely grateful that it now belongs in my past and not in my future.
The problem breathing causes inside the MRI machine, he said, is if your breaths are too deep and big it will make the image bounce. Ditto if your breaths are short, fast and choppy. There is also the claustrophobia some people experience inside an MRI but probably would not happen if nobody ever mentioned it. Not only am I lying quietly and still, but I’m wondering why I’m not feeling claustrophobic. Plus, I am paying special attention to my breathing. Not too slow, not too fast.
Uh, oh, it feels like my breathing is suppressed. I wonder if it’s too slow? Relax, relax, in and out, in and out. How many breaths is that per minute? Too many? Aaaahhh. See, there is nothing else to do while the machine is doing its thing: DING DING DING DING, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, Bing, Bing, Bing, Bing. It’s not like you can sleep.
What is that on the side of my face? It feels like a tear. Why do I have a tear rolling down my cheek, ever so slowly? I can’t wipe it or touch it. What is making my eyes water? Uh, oh, how many breaths is that per minute? BOING BOING BOING BOING BOING BOING. Speaking of moisture, now I have to swallow. I definitely feel a big lump sitting there ready to go down my throat. If I swallow, will it interfere with the imaging? Probably. Just like the breathing. I have to lie perfectly still.
What the hell! My nose feels like it’s going to drip. It’s not like I can snort, which is so unladylike anyway, much less blow my nose, even if I had a Kleenix, which I don’t. What is building in my nasal passages — a master suite with its very own waterfall? Gah. Breathe slowly and steadily. Perhaps I should think about something other than what’s happening at the moment. I could think about any of my present escrows and upcoming new listings. Maybe that burned-out house in Elk Grove I have to list next week? Yeah, that will do the trick. Focus on my new listings in Elk Grove.
Home Staging is Back in Sacramento and Elk Grove
Another sign of our slowly recovering real estate market is home staging is making a big comeback in Sacramento, especially among Elk Grove homes. For years, we had so many short sales in the midst of a down real estate market that many sellers did not stage their homes because they didn’t have to, wasn’t needed. How do you know if a home needs to be staged? Because some homes don’t.
First and foremost is how hard will it be to sell that home? Are there other factors about the home that could discourage a buyer from making an offer such as bad condition, horrible location, unreasonable price? It is a home that most buyers don’t want to buy? I also look at the competition. What else will a buyer see when they tour other homes nearby in this same price range. If other homes are staged, yours better be, too.
It’s not really the buyer’s fault that a buyer can’t visualize potential or, more important, feel the emotional tug of a home. Door opens, they walk inside, they immediately know whether they like the home in 3 seconds. The rest of the tour reinforces that original perception. It gets better or it gets worse depending on their first emotion.
Buyers try to “rule out” buying homes just as much as they “rule in” buying homes. Some believe in fate, whether or not you may agree with that premise, a perception of fate might be the buyer’s reality and you go with the flow. Curb appeal hits them first and the interiors second. Third they tend to look for the amenities they have told their agent they want, but they’re not nearly as analytical as sellers might expect. Staging a home helps to overcome barriers.
This is why it’s generally a good idea to make that home as attractive as possible and set the stage to encourage an offer. Just sold today another home in Elk Grove that was on the market for almost 3 weeks without staging at an attractive price point. After home staging, whammo. Two offers. It works like this all of the time. This is not an isolated situation. You’ve gotta remove all of the objections, and one way to do that is to stage the home.
The Hill On Which an Elk Grove Home Buyer Dies
On which hill is a buyer in Elk Grove willing to die upon? We all pick our battles, but the hill on which we choose to die is special. That’s a question I ask myself when I see an offer arrive for one of my sellers. Most home buyers and their agents are fairly agreeable upfront, but down the road once we’re in escrow things can change. If agents and buyers start out on the wrong foot, though, odds are that they will continue on that same path. This is what I warn sellers about. I tend to share pertinent stuff that happens.
I just closed an escrow yesterday in which we had previously lost a few buyers on the short sale due to no fault of the seller or my advice. Our short sale market in Sacramento has pretty much fallen flat, thank goodness, and it’s odd for me now to close a short sale versus the hundreds I used to list and sell. The first buyer was in contract for about 48 hours before that buyer freaked out and canceled. The next buyer canceled when Fannie Mae asked for another $5,000 in sales price. Finally, we secured a third buyer who was willing to pay the extra $5,000 and wait for approval. This was a smart buyer because by the time we received the approval letter, the property was worth more than that $5,000 increase.
That second buyer had decided to die over $5,000. Now, there is nothing available in that complex anywhere near the price that buyer could have paid to own a property. The sales prices are higher.
In another escrow, we received a full price offer from an Elk Grove buyer who wanted to use her own title and escrow company, even though she wasn’t paying for those services. We pointed that out and sent her a counter. This buyer demanded her own title and escrow, regardless, most likely at the suggestion of her agent and argued ad nauseam over the issue. That was the hill on which that buyer chose to die.
It’s good the sellers passed on that buyer because the thing is a few days later another set of buyers much more willing to work with the sellers came along and wrote a spectacular offer that the sellers could not refuse. This is exactly what I shared with my sellers would happen. Nobody says you have to take an offer that makes you uncomfortable, and a REALTOR needs to look out for the best interests of the seller. Sometimes, that means saying no to an offer and letting the Elk Grove buyer die on that hill.
Starter Homes and Move-up Homes for Sale in Elk Grove
The homes in my listing inventory for Sacramento that seem to generate the highest number of phone calls from buyers and buyer’s agents are homes in Elk Grove. It doesn’t seem to matter if they are starter homes for sale in Elk Grove or move-up homes. As a top listing agent in Elk Grove, I sell an unusually high number of homes in Elk Grove in the ZIP Codes 95624, 95757 and 95758. These homes are similar to the types of homes one might find the other direction from downtown in our Natomas communities or homes in West Sacramento in that they are newer construction, mostly stucco with tile roofs, and many young families gravitate toward these neighborhoods.
But then many of the homes for sale in Elk Grove are a hot commodity this spring. At the moment, we have 288 homes for sale in our 3 ZIPs in Elk Grove. MLS also shows 241 homes pending, with 191 sold within the last 30 days. You can do the math. There are not enough homes for sale in Elk Grove to meet demand.
If you are looking for homes for sale in Elk Grove, two exceptional homes recently became available, which you should take a look at if you’re in that market. Each fits a specific need. One is a starter home for a first-time home buyer or an investor and the second home is a luxury move-up home. Our first brand new listing is located at 7029 Verdure Way, Elk Grove, CA 95758. This is near Bruceville and Seasons. I keep wanting to call that street Four Seasons after the luxury resort. Or, as some people say it’s a reason to live in Sacramento because we have seasons here.
This is a 3-bedroom home with 3 baths and an open floor plan. The ceilings soar above the second floor, which makes it seem much bigger than its 1,410 square feet. Your entertainment area is the entire first floor, with open spaces between the living room and dining room and kitchen. Sliding doors lead to the back yard, with planting options available around the perimeter to make the yard your own. It’s affordable and competitively priced at $259,000. Ready for occupancy. Newer roof and HVAC, too.
The second home is located east of Highway 99, off Elk Grove Boulevard and Black Swan. If you’re looking for more bells and whistles and twice the square footage, this second home at $395,000 might be perfect for you. Boasting more than 2,800 square feet, it offers 5 bedrooms (two on the first floor, including a gigantic master suite) and three more bedrooms on the second floor. More interior square footage could be added by closing off the open space on the second floor, but most buyers will think it’s large enough just the way it was built. It’s beautiful, and it could be yours.
Come see 9468 Mainline Drive, Elk Grove, CA 95624 on Sunday when it is open from 2 PM to 4 PM. Both homes are offered for sale exclusively by Lyon Real Estate; for a private showing or more information, please call your Elk Grove agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916.233.6759.
