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Elk Grove Realtor Closes Home Clawed By Bears
A bear’s claws are capable of ripping off siding from a home in Elk Grove.
Among our closings from yesterday, the most intense for this Elk Grove Realtor was the home that looked like it was clawed by bears. People are often amazed that there is a market for this type of fixer home. But those people are not in real estate. Those of us in real estate understand how much demand there is for this type of property because we sell all types of homes, not just the pretty, updated, historic residences in Midtown, or the luxury homes in Sacramento. We also deal in the gritty stuff because, bottom line, it’s all just a product.
Wearing my Tori Burch high heels, I climbed over piles of garbage to shoot photos. The home had basically been abandoned for more than a year, until such time that the seller felt equipped to deal with the sale. We expected to receive the highest price possible, which meant positioning the home for multiple offers. This meant accurately describing the condition of this home to attract the types of buyers who love buying fixers.
Knowing my target audience is always the first rule to crafting a marketing description for this Elk Grove Realtor. I try to be creative, to attract attention, sometimes to entertain, depending on the purpose. I want agents excited about showing the home, regardless of its condition, and hauling over buyers. What you, the reader, might feel is unorthodox, is what often works for me. I pull out all the stops for my listings. Each is unique. I can admit this, the office assistants at Lyon got a kick out of entering this listing into MLS.
The following was my marketing description, and it’s extremely accurate:
We are amazed the home is still standing. The exterior siding looks like bears attacked. Stuff is growing inside on the walls. “Needs a new roof” is putting it mildly. Garbage, debris, unidentifiable glops cover the flooring and the floor that is visible is torn, stained and mutilated. Water damage. Trash from one end to the other. Should probably be gutted. Use caution, home is uninhabitable and most likely dangerous to your health. A good fixer for some lucky buyer with vision for its potential.
Lest you think, who would buy that monstrosity, this Elk Grove Realtor received dozens of inquiries and many purchase offers for her seller to consider. Calls continued for weeks after we went into pending status. If you’re looking for a dedicated Elk Grove Realtor who pays extreme attention to detail with a solid reputation for selling homes at top dollar, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
Cat Playing Piano and Listing Homes in Sacramento
A cat playing piano would happen all the time in our house if we had a piano.
People imagine that my husband and I spend inordinate amounts of time entrenched in serious conversations about consequential, essential issues facing society but we are very content to watch a cat playing piano, if you want to know the truth. In fact, a discussion over breakfast last week involved if our 3 cats played in a band, which instruments would they play? He says Jackson the Ragdoll would play a saxophone, but as laid back as he is, I envision him playing bass guitar. Jackson loves rubber bands, or as people from Minnesota refer to those things: binders.
Pica the Ocicat, on the other hand, would play a bass drum. He’s got the big paws to do it, and isn’t fast enough due to age and diabetes for the snare drum. Tessa would play everything else. Simultaneously. She’s like an ADD cat. Her favorite composer is Trent Reznor. Or maybe Dave Grohl. And that’s what it felt like yesterday as I balanced the number of phone calls coming in from potential clients wanting to list homes in the Sacramento area. Like a cat playing piano. It’s taxing, but doable.
We have no control in the Sacramento real estate business how fast and furious the business pops in. People have their own time schedules, and we, as Realtors, simply adjust to those schedules. It seems like yesterday was a break in the dam of Sacramento home listing trickles, though. We have such low inventory in Sacramento. I checked out a few homes in West Sacramento (only a few minutes from my home in Land Park), have another home in Carmichael to list on Monday, a condo in Arden coming up, and a single family home in Elk Grove.
I focused so intently on finishing the comparative market analysis for each that I spaced out my usual eyedrops, which meant my husband had to pluck my fried contact lenses off my eyeballs before bed. See, this is an excellent reason to be married.
And speaking of bedtime, I spotted a Beatles Yellow Submarine comforter at Target in the paper this morning. Instant craving. Yes, I love this comforter. While I enjoy the calming Ethiopian influence inherent in our bedspread, what better way to ensure interesting dreams than by crawling under a Yellow Submarine comforter? Perhaps the comforter could induce a dream involving a cat playing piano? We all have our diversions that keep us sane.
Coming Soon Listings in Elk Grove
9027 E Valley Dr, Elk Grove, CA 95624 is a Coming Soon listing on market 2/5/16.
It was a wet and gloomy day on Friday, but that did not hold back my sunny disposition as I pulled up in front of my new Coming Soon listing in Elk Grove. This home is located just down the street from another I sold at Thanksgiving, a listing that those poor sellers almost had to report their former agent to the Cal BRE to get him to release his grip. A home that many agents vehemently disagreed with us on about the price, but did sell at list price. So, there. Spittooey on those agents. I tend to pull rabbits out of hats when needed, and that’s why sellers hire this Elk Grove Realtor.
I do the impossible.
I also do the possible with great flair. In fact, I prefer the possible over the impossible, but I take them both. The possible means my job can run somewhat smoother, providing I line up everything in advance. Preplanning is my forté. That’s why I might create a Coming Soon listing. Not every agent likes, appreciates or understands Coming Soon listings, mostly buyer’s agents, I suspect. However, from a listing agent’s point of view, a Coming Soon listing draws excitement and creates an atmosphere to generate multiple offers, providing it is the right property.
Not all of the homes in Elk Grove qualify in my mind for a Coming Soon listing. Only exceptional properties, and you know the kind of home I’m talking about right? How about a darling single-level that was previously the builder’s model home? Model homes are special. They tend to feature all sorts of upgrades and extra touches that reach buyers emotionally. Matching drapes, custom wall colors, designer features such as dual framed mirrors in the baths, inlaid tile and tiffany light fixtures; not to mention plantation shutters, crown molding, vaulted ceilings, engineered wood flooring . . .
. . . and best of all, this Coming Soon listing exists in the real world today, the Hampton Oaks community of Elk Grove. No, maybe best of all is it is priced under $300,000, which makes it very affordable for a first-time home buyer.
Check it out in the link above on Zillow: 9027 E. Valley Drive, Elk Grove, CA 95624. Showings start on Friday, February 5th, and the gala open house is Sunday, February 7th. If you’re thinking about selling a home in Elk Grove, call your top producer, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916.233.6759.
If You See Something in Sacramento Call 9-1-1
Burglar breaking into a house window with a crowbar
You think everybody knows that if you see something in Sacramento call 9-1-1, but they obviously do not. An agent from my Elk Grove Lyon office called yesterday to let me know she had received a phone call from a neighbor about a potential break-in at one of my listings near Elk Grove. The reason a neighbor would call my Elk Grove office is because I use my Elk Grove office panel sign on my listings since the office is closest to the home. If a person needs to urgently see a home I have listed in Elk Grove, that buyer typically will call the biggest phone number, which means they will reach my Elk Grove office, and an agent can immediately pop over to show the home.
The woman tells the Elk Grove agent that she watched suspected intruders case out the vacant home, stash their bikes in the back yard and figures they might be up to no good. Did the Elk Grove agent tell her if you see something in Sacramento call 9-1-1? Well, um, no, uh-oh, gosh, gee whiz. Did they get the neighbor’s phone number by chance? Thank goodness. I called the witness. Yup, she saw something.
I explained that the police department does not want to receive third-party information from a real estate agent, and that the real estate agent has no vested interest in this situation because the agent is not the owner. However, the police are very interested in hearing from the individual who actually witnessed the attempted criminal act. I suggested she call 9-1-1 and let them know there could be intruders breaking into this home in Sacramento near Elk Grove.
Oh, no, she replied, I don’t want to get involved.
Hey, I thought the 1950s were over. Who are you? Gladys Kravitz?
Look, I began, I’m not gonna tell you what to do but the police won’t take a report from me. The seller has abandoned this house. If this were in my neighborhood, if I lived behind a home like this, and I witnessed something suspicious, I would without hesitation and, if for no other reason but to protect myself, my family and my neighbors; I would call 9-1-1. Those of us who sit on the fence become part of the problem. If you see something in Sacramento call 9-1-1.
The neighbor spit out thank you and abruptly hung up.
It’s not like you’re gonna get involved if you call 9-1-1. Where do people get this stuff? There is no secret list of informers that the police turn over to the crooks. The police don’t come to your house. It’s simply your civic duty to report crime. Next thing you know, they’ll be hopping the fence to case out your house, you, you . . . you WIMP.
When Sellers Develop Emotional Ties to a Home
Tessa, Pica and Jackson watch Sacramento Realtor Elizabeth Weintraub work at her desk.
There is no better way to start the day in the life of a Sacramento Realtor than to begin by entering the term cat constipation into Google. Our diabetic cat Pica appears to be constipated. It wasn’t Tessa rolling cat poop balls around the house for amusement the other week, it was Pica trying to give us a message the best way he knows how. One of the feline sites about constipation even depicted cartoons of cats depositing poop in the litter box and my favorite: active regurgitation. It reminded me of the puking rainbow mouth you can do with Snapchat now. Cats, no matter how you look at it, are gross creatures.
At least they are quiet when my phone rings. But when I answer my phone, there is nobody else in my office area except these 3 cats, so they naturally assume I am talking to them. Even when it’s not my sweet kitty voice. Especially when I’m saying stuff like, this is the worst pest report I’ve seen in 10 years, or what do you mean you haven’t ordered the appraisal yet when the contingency release is due tomorrow? The three cats — they just sit there on the floor and purr. Or rollover to expose bellies to the ceiling.
This will be my memory when we eventually sell our home many years from now, when we’re old and feeble. Everybody develops emotional ties to a home. In fact, my client just asked for photographs this morning of her home in Elk Grove. I always offer to send my professional photography to my sellers so they have a keepsake album of their home. Just because they are selling a home does not mean they don’t have an emotional attachment to it. It’s hard to leave any home if you’ve lived there for a while because all of your memories of years gone by were created in that environment. Unless it’s a home of sad memories.
I have another client who would not go into her home when I showed up to shoot photographs earlier this year. She had too many unhappy memories and did not want to revisit them. She sat in her car in the driveway while I went inside to take photos. When I came out, she appeared severely depressed. I asked if she wanted a few photos of her children that I spotted lying on the floor. It’s not like I wanted to force her to go back inside, but I did want her to know that the photos were there and they might mean something to her. Not to mention, she probably did not want to leave them for strangers.
After she came back outside holding a few mementos, I talked to her for a while, explaining what I would do to sell her home. I don’t think she cared, so I stopped going into detail and just hugged her. That’s when she burst into tears. Selling Sacramento real estate is not about the numbers. It’s about the people. And preserving the emotional ties to a home.
