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Sunday Afternoon at Golfland Sunsplash Roseville Brings Realtor to Ingress Level 10
Elizabeth Weintraub at Golfland Sunsplash Roseville
It never occurred to me to play miniature golf. My thoughts for spending a Sunday afternoon away from real estate, which I try to do every now and then, was adopting my friend Myrl Jeffcoat’s idea of driving to Columbia, just past Angels Camp. Figured we could combine that with stopping in Amador City for lunch at the Imperial Hotel. Columbia is not only a Gold Rush town in the Motherlode, but it’s also a historic California State Park. The park never closes because it’s a town, but the museum is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas. The drawback is driving to Columbia involves a four-hour roundtrip from Sacramento, not counting a stop for lunch.
Instead, my husband offered an alternate idea, a different option that would allow him to get back home in time to start dinner, which was an afternoon at Golfland Sunsplash in Roseville. But first things first meant we still needed a destination for lunch. My husband found a Persian restaurant in Folsom, The Saffron Grill. A promotional card for the healthful benefits of this type of diet was stuck in-between the salt and pepper shakers on the table, and it described all sorts of gastronomical digestion delights that you don’t want to read just before lunch — some bodily functions are best left to the confines of the ladies’ room and could tend to dampen the appetite.
Filled with spicy chicken, hummus, and a sugary cucumber drink, we stood in the parking lot and captured a few more Ingress portals before heading off to Golfland Sunsplash. This is a huge complex off Interstate 80, near the Taylor exit in Roseville. I drive by this place all of the time, but usually I am more focused on my destination, which is typically selling homes in Roseville. It’s kind of hard to miss the waterslide park and castle, but I managed to do it. Agents are generally thinking about the task at hand and not hopping off the freeway to play.
It costs $18 for two adults to play 18 holes of mini-golf at Golfland Sunsplash. Fairly inexpensive for the amount of humongous fun. I started out doing really well, sinking the ball on 2 or 3 tries. So well that I was beginning to think I would win, and then I completely missed 2 holes. My husband beat the game by a score of 62 to my 59.
Although, that wasn’t so bad because when I glanced down at my phone just before we turned in our golf clubs, I noticed something unusual was happening in my Ingress game; I had captured a portal a few holes back. Sparkly stars! That capture instantly graduated me to Level 10. Eureka! This Realtor is no longer a lowly Level 9 in Ingress. Say hello to my new Level 10.
Closing a Condo in Roseville Involved 3 Sets of Buyers
When I got the message yesterday that my listing for the condo in Roseville had closed, I had just picked up the lockbox and stopped at Nordstrom in the Galleria to try on shoes. I can’t drive by the Galleria without stopping at Nordstrom, apparently. Whatever happened to the 3-inch heel? That’s what I’d like to know. Poof, gone, vanished. Almost every shoe in the store was either completely flat, a 2-inch heel or some crazy Lady Gaga / Elton John shoes which, when I try to wear them, makes me fear for my life because it’s a long way down to the pavement where I shall smash my face if I topple.
You know what’s funnier than watching a baby trying to walk in her mother’s shoes? Watching women over 60 trying to get up off the comfy sofa at Nordstrom and strut about in 7-inch platforms. I couldn’t even stand to look at my own feet.
So, I sat back down to call the seller of the condo in Roseville and let him know that his long ordeal was over. It seems to me the last time I had a lengthy conversation in an odd place about this condo was last year at the Four Seasons in Lanai at Manele Bay. That was a phone call with an agent involving the first buyer who was freaking out because there had been litigation at one time in that particular complex, so the buyer wanted to cancel.
As I do when these unfortunate things happen beyond my control, I put the condo in Roseville back on the market and found another buyer. We waited almost a week while calling the buyer’s agent every day to receive the buyer’s deposit. Shortly after the deposit arrived in escrow, that buyer canceled as well. It’s hard to say why. Usually it has nothing to do with the property and more to do with the fact the buyer gets cold feet.
I pleaded with the Roseville condo seller to please be patient, and I would find another buyer. Find another buyer I did. This time through a veteran agent who used to work at Lyon but had gone off elsewhere as agents often tend to do. My gut instincts told me we could rely on this agent. Not so much his lender, though, who could not do the loan for a variety of odd reasons. But the agent was resourceful, his buyer really wanted the property, and she finally came up with cash.
We closed yesterday, and nothing thrilled me more, not even the nude Tory Burch patent leather sandals, than to call the seller to assure him this transaction was over.
Sacramento Will Be Featured in Financial Times
Just to show you how it goes in the life of a Sacramento real estate agent, last week I didn’t put any new listings on the market yet, yesterday, I worked on four new home listings in Sacramento, plus I gave a film interview to the Financial Times. That particular media is covering the collapse and recovery (or what-have-you) of the housing market across America. Because Sacramento was hit so hard by the real estate market-crash asteroids in a double whammy (2005 and 2008), and because we’re one of the first cities to begin our journey down that Yellow Brick Road, our town is of interest to the Financial Times, along with Austin, Texas, and a few others.
The morning started out innocent enough, an office meeting with my peers, during which I briefly and without actual intention mentioned a duplex I am listing in Tahoe Park. During the day, I received 3 phone calls from real estate agents about it. OK, this listing will be hot. It might even receive multiple offers. I conducted my visual inspection of the home a short time later and, as I lifted the door to the electrical panel to determine the amperage, the seller asked how I could read the label. She was stunned, watching me.
Hey, I might be an old fart but I wear monovision contacts. I am also a Baby Boomer, and we are not wearing reading glasses or bifocals if we don’t have to, and we don’t. I explained how distance and near vision works with this particular type of contact lens, and probably opened a new door of possibilities for the seller.
I spent about 30 minutes with a couple of my team members showing how to analyze a listing in MLS and various methods to pull comparable sales. It’s amazing how much information a buyers’ agent can glean about a listing in Sacramento if the agent utilizes all of the tools available. Knowledge is power.
Wednesdays are also my day to complete any last-minute open house schedules for the weekend. This weekend, Lyon Real Estate is holding its Open House Extravaganza for the month of May, so it’s very important to participate with such wide coverage for my sellers. I lined up a bunch of homes, matched with fabulous open house agents, and updated all of my online listing data because I like to tweak the listings myself. I’m such an odd duck, I guess. I do all of my own work on my listings because that’s my focus, it’s what I enjoy.
The best part of any Sacramento real estate agent’s day, though, is calling her sellers to announce their home has closed escrow — and a home in Roseville did close yesterday, less than 6 weeks after we went on the market. List price, all cash. West Park subdivision, at $375,000.
My team member Linda Swanson is filming with the Financial Times today, showing the reporter around Sacramento. I’ll let you know when this news story airs. I can tell you that although my life is pretty much open book, and my opinions are strong, leaning far to the left, I still prefer talking to the Financial Times over 60 Minutes any day. Some of those guys have accents.
New Home Listings in Roseville, Greenhaven, Fair Oaks
When I woke up to rain in Sacramento this morning, my first thought was how excited I am to work on preparing my new home listings for this month, but my second thought was April showers bring May flowers — that ditty has little to do with anything because it’s still only March and because we already have flowers. By the time April rolls around, I have summer fever. I also wish we had enough rain to end the drought, but it looks like we are in a for a long struggle and need to practice continual water conservation.
A report in the Sacramento Bee revealed most of the water consumption in the Sacramento area is in Granite Bay as residents in Granite Bay use twice as much water over Sacramento residents. Larger lots, more grass, mostly. My new listings for this month are not located in Granite Bay, although I do sell homes in Placer County. These are homes in Fair Oaks, Greenhaven and Roseville, all areas I know very well. When you sell homes all over Sacramento like I do, it’s nice to be able to pick and choose which homes I want to sell and which sellers I want to represent.
While I’m selecting my new projects, homeowners are also selecting the agent they want to work with, and goodness knows, they have a huge selection from which to choose. A seller shared with me last week that one of the reasons she chose to hire Elizabeth Weintraub over the other agents she interviewed was because I did not talk AT her; I talked with her. Of course I talked with her, because that’s how I talk. Plus, I need to get to know my sellers on a personal level so I can best communicate and deliver the type of service they want. Make them not just happy but ecstatic. You can’t do that if you’re talking AT people.
If you are looking for a home in Greenhaven, Fair Oaks or Roseville, you will love this selection. First, they are all equity (traditional sales) homes, so you can close in 30 days. The home in Greenhaven sports gorgeous hardwood floors and an oversized lot, located in a pretty, tucked-away neighborhood, ready for immediate occupancy, under $300,000. The home in Fair Oaks boasts granite, is an updated and spacious single-level and offers country living in the city, priced under $400,000. The single-level home in Roseville features matted cherry cabinets throughout, granite counters, ceramic and marble floors, a popular model with a beautifully landscaped back yard, also priced under $400,000.
If you are a buyer working with the Elizabeth Weintraub Team, you’ll get first glimpse of these homes as they come on the market. All of our buyers tend to enjoy a bit of an edge in the Sacramento marketplace, and it’s not because they’re working with the smartest agents I know, but that certainly helps.
Treating Sacramento Real Estate Agents Honestly in Multiple Offers
Much ado about multiple offers lately. So much of the stuff contained in the REALTOR Code of Ethics is simply good common sense for a Sacramento real estate agent to adhere to in her real estate practice, and it’s not “just words” to many agents. Not to mention, an agent can be reported to the Board of REALTORS and / or fined for violating the Code. It says things like a member needs to treat other members and clients honestly.
On the other hand, treating agents fairly means without prejudice, without discrimination, giving equal weight to all parties by being equitable, playing no favoritism, partaking in impartial dealings, being honorable. One of my goals when I am the listing agent and representing the seller in a transaction is to give buyer’s agents an opportunity to view the home and present an offer on a level-playing field. This means I am not sharing information about the content of offers with other agents unless authorized by the seller.
The Elizabeth Weintraub Team encourages buyer’s agents involved in multiple offers to submit their best offer upfront. Not every seller wants go through the counter offer stage in a multiple-offer situation. I have worked with sellers who enjoy that process, but many of them do not. Many sellers just want the best offer possible and do not want to dicker back and forth. So, agents who submit an offer and say “please counter us,” are a) doing their buyer a disservice by implying the buyer will offer more, which could possibly be breaking their fiduciary, and b) their words are falling on deaf ears if the sellers don’t want to counter.
During multiple offers for a home in Roseville yesterday, an agent pleaded and asked how high her buyer had to go to buy the home. I explained in that instance I can’t play favorites, and she needs to do the best that she can. My sellers did not authorize me to disclose offers.
I try to help my sellers weigh offers by looking at all aspects of the offer and not just the sales price. We discuss contingencies, debt ratios, FICO scores (if we get them), preapproval letters, and any special considerations an agent might include in the buyer’s offer. No financing rejections based on type of loan — cash is not king — closing escrow is king.
Ultimately, it’s always the sellers’ decision which offer to choose. Funny thing is yesterday, the sellers chose the offer from the agent who did the best that she and her buyer could do, and that agent did not receive any preemptive suggestions from me. This is the way the seller wanted it. Not to mention, what goes around in this world tends to come around. I hope when my Team sits on the other side of the table presenting an offer for a buyer, we will be treated honestly as well.
