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Your Real Estate Problem is This Sacramento Agent’s Challenge
If you’ve got a problem with a home in Sacramento, come on over here and sit down next to me; I’m happy to talk about it. This is what I do all day long. As a busy Sacramento agent, I solve real estate puzzles and problems. I get to hear about some of the wildest situations, and I find a way to put the pieces together and close escrow.
It doesn’t matter what the problem is or the perception of that problem. I’m a good Sacramento agent to take care of it. Not every problem a seller perceives is actually a problem. Moreover, there is not much I haven’t run across or had to deal with in some form over the years, knock on wood. OK, I’ve never had to supervise the digging up of a grave in the front yard, so I suppose my time is coming. I’ve never had to drink milk directly from a pail toward which a cow’s udder was recently directed; oh, ick, I am such a city girl. There are few things, though, I have not done.
A few weeks ago I listed a home in Sacramento County that was pretty much trashed from one end to the other, and it was a big surprise for the sellers when they saw it. The tenant died in the house. But you know, the dude was watching one of his favorite programs on the TV Land channel: Bonanza, and he died peacefully in an overstuffed lounge chair. That’s not a bad a way to go; especially with everything being all right with Joe and Hoss on the Ponderosa. There were no cliff hangers on Bonanza. Every show neatly tidied up its drama. When I bite the dust, perhaps I’ll be watching Tattoo screaming: the plane, boss, the plane.
Another seller has a home with orange walls that I’m looking at later on this afternoon. My recommendation will be to paint the walls a light beige. Paint is kind of expensive when you figure it’s about $25 a can, and you need at least 2 cans of paint per room, but it’s the cheapest way to improve a home and get top dollar. You can also hire a pro for $300 to $500 per room.
There is the seller who had to turn off the water in his vacant home due to plumbing problems he couldn’t afford to fix, not to mention, the roof is beyond its end of life, and the payments are in arrears, have been in arrears for several years, but still, this might not be a short sale, and I am hopeful that I’ll find a first-time home buyer for this home in Elk Grove. I know other agents probably would not touch this listing with a 10-foot pole, but not me. I’ll take on the challenges.
The more challenges I solve and close, the better Sacramento agent I become. I’m still selling millions per month on average, even in today’s slower real estate market. You need a listing agent? You call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916 233 6759. I’ll be there.
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.
Sacramento Spring Home Selling Starts in the Rain
One of my Elk Grove sellers yesterday almost passed out when I called to say we had sold his home. I’m not joking. He could not believe it, and that’s putting it mildly. One day he’s a guy with a home in Elk Grove that is almost upside-down with a roof at the end of its life and the next day he’s slipping $50,000 into his pocket. I’m sure that’s the way it seemed to him. “Buttt,” he stuttered in disbelief, “We haven’t even been on the market for 2 weeks yet.”
When a listing is done right, much of the work is done upfront. Sellers don’t see the hours we agents pour over our listings, highlighting this feature, brightening this spot, cropping thusly, and plastering it everywhere online. Or the time invested to study the comparable sales and help the seller to choose just the right sales price. Or the number of inspection reports obtained from roofers, pest workers much less our own visual inspections, rearranging, color coordinating and staging the home a little bit. What they see is a buyer walking in the door and cooing, “I want this home.” It sends sellers into shock.
It was an unbelievable day yesterday for this Sacramento real estate agent. I don’t always have days like that Wednesday or I would probably drop from exhaustion. In addition to receiving an award from Leading Real Estate Companies of the World at my office meeting, bringing in a breakfast item for a potluck to honor veteran and former SAR president Barbara Harsch, and adding another curb scrape to the front lip spoiler on my car on my way to drop it at the body shop, it seems like everything happened in three’s. First, I took 3 new listings: met with the sellers, inspected the homes, shot my photographs, signed all the paperwork, explained how showings work, all that stuff.
Lyon Real Estate and I are bringing to the Sacramento spring home selling market today a gorgeous remodeled home in East Sacramento at 700 San Antonio Way at $649,000. The attention to detail in this remodel is astounding. Another new listing is a home in Carmichael, just north of Fair Oaks and east of California Street at 6145 Fountaindale Way at $350,000. This is a single-level, open floor plan with vaults and attached deck, surrounded by mature landscaping, built in 1992. The third new listing is located at 17 Oasis Court, which is on a culdesac, built in 2008 (among newer homes in central Sacramento), with 4 bedrooms and 2 baths at the affordable price of $195,000.
On top of this, I put 3 listings into contract and into escrow. Like the home of my Elk Grove seller who almost had a heart attack. I picked up 3 new clients by answering my phone as I was driving around Sacramento, too. We’re just getting started in this Sacramento spring selling season. See, focus. That’s the name of the game, and an agent must be on top of her game. Besides, it was too rainy to take my daily bike ride through Land Park yesterday anyway.
Finding a Replacement Property for a 1031 Exchange
Lots of investors from the Bay area call top-producing Sacramento real estate agents when they decide to sell — which is how I end up working with many of them — and the shift I spy on the horizon now is to 1031 exchanges. You might not know this, but I got my start in real estate in the 1970s by working solely with investors, many of them first-time investors. I sold investment properties exclusively for about 9 years, and I moved into real estate from my certified escrow officer position, during which I processed and closed a large number of 1031 tax deferred exchanges.
It’s funny how some things can come full circle. Now that the market in Sacramento is picking up, more investors have equity and some of them want to put that equity to work elsewhere. They don’t want to pay taxes on the sale of their investment property if they don’t have to, and most of them don’t as long as they find and identify a replacement property within the 45-day period and effect a 1031 exchange. (There are minor sub-rules that don’t apply to very many, so I won’t go into those.) The more important rule is an investor has 180 days to close escrow.
My new clients have a rental home in Elk Grove they want to exchange. They don’t live in the area and have discovered how difficult it is to manage an investment property without family nearby. A drive into Sacramento from the Bay area can take 2 to 3 hours each way. Some investors might prefer to move their equity to another town.
A 1031 Exchange wouldn’t be such a nagging problem if we had more inventory in Sacramento. I try to explain that investors actually have about 75 days, if you look at this systematically. Once an offer is received to buy the investor’s rental property, that escrow period is about 30 days, give or take. That means 30 days + 45 days = 75 days. But people, being people, sometimes look to the worst case scenario. Like, what happens if they can’t find a replacement property?
Being in real estate, I know they will find a replacement property for a 1031 Exchange, even if they’re looking out-of-area, because I know real estate agents and how the business works. But that doesn’t help the investor if they’re not standing in my Jimmy Choos, and looking at this from my viewpoint.
This is yet one more reason why we need more inventory in Sacramento. To give investors an assurance that they can find that replacement property, and two more properties along with it as a backup. If you’re thinking about deferring taxes on the sale of your investment property, talk to your accountant and then call this Sacramento real estate agent, Elizabeth Weintraub. I’d love to help you to locate a qualified intermediary and sell your investment home, 916.233.6759.
Spotlight: Homes for Sale in 95624 in Elk Grove
This weekend I’m meeting with my electrician and his wife in Elk Grove to talk about selling their home in 95624. As a top Elk Grove agent, I sell many homes in Elk Grove and, over the years, that city has developed into one of my speciality markets. The ZIP code of 95624 is close to the ZIP 95829, but that area of 95829 is in Sacramento, not in Elk Grove, even though homes in 95829 might be located in the same Elk Grove school district. All of the homes located in 95624 are within the city limits of Elk Grove.
Speaking of which, the schools are a primary reason many people with families choose to live in Elk Grove. There are 15 public and private elementary schools, 5 middle schools and 5 high schools, according to Trulia. Time Magazine in 2006 named Elk Grove as the fastest growing city in the United States, just as the housing market was beginning to crash. Many homeowners lost tremendous amounts of equity from 2006 to 2012. But today, we are on the road to recovery. Many people who thought they didn’t have any equity are amazed to discover that they can now freely sell their home in Elk Grove.
Homes in the 95624 ZIP code of Elk Grove priced between $350,000 and $400,000 can be more difficult to sell if the bulk of the homes in a given neighborhood are priced near $350,000 and you have that odd $400,000 home. But it doesn’t mean it won’t sell or that you won’t get top dollar for it. It just might take a little bit longer. I sold several in the upper end of that price range recently — closed a home in East Park at $385,000 last week and a Meritage Home in Britschgi Ranch will close shortly. In February, for example, there were only 7 homes in that price range that closed escrow. We’ll see an uptick this month, I predict. At the moment, MLS reports we have 229 homes for sale in 95624, which have not yet sold nor closed escrow.
The competition grows a bit more intense in the $300,000 to $350,000 range. Last February out of 29 listings in that range only 11 sold. That equals about 1 out of 3 homes. The hottest price range, though, is the “under $300,000,” those homes priced between $200,000 and $300,000. The pending sales in that price range for February exceeded the number of homes for sale.
And this is exactly where my electrician’s home is located. We’ll probably need to spruce it up a little bit because most people don’t live in the manner in which they would present a home for sale to the public. We live like real people and not characters in a fairy tale, but it is the fairy tale I will sell. This is a one-story home in a neighborhood in which many investors have flipped homes, and it’s a popular place to live.
I talk to everybody about real estate because it’s my passion. Even when I’m having an extra electrical receptacle placed under my home office desk. Thinking about buying or selling a home in 95624? Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
