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A Land Park Agent Says Leave the Tenant in the Home for Sale
One of the really good things about a Land Park agent like me listing a home in Land Park is that I am very close and available in case of emergencies. We had one such emergency last night. An agent called me to say a brand new lockbox was flashing red and behaving badly. I dropped what I was doing, backed into the recycling can with my car because my husband left it in the driveway in an attempt to dissuade garbage pickers from tearing it apart, and dashed over to my listing to give that lockbox a good talking to.
Turns out it was as I had anticipated, and there was something wrong with the buyer’s agent’s display key. It would not read the lockbox. It was also dark, so she could been putting in the wrong code or even pointing at the wrong spot on the lockbox. Whatever the problem was, I was glad to be there to solve it. Doubly glad I live nearby. Why, if that seller had listed with some other agent who didn’t live in Land Park and was not a Land Park agent that home might not have been shown last night.
I always drop what I’m doing to take care of more important matters. Of course, if I was in the middle of driving somebody to the hospital, I probably would let my phone ring through to voice mail, but otherwise I tend to try to answer it.
I have another home to list in Land Park shortly. I’m going over today to meet with the owners and do a walkthrough to help them decide how to stage the home. Staging is so crucially important. For my other listing, I suggested to the seller that he go on the market immediately rather than wait for the tenant to move in a couple of weeks. That is contrary to most general advice, but then every real estate listing is different. In this particular listing, the tenant has the home decorated and staged beautifully, that it will look more empty and lonely without her stuff in it than it does now.
It’s rare that I ever suggest that a tenant stay in the home. But every so often, a tenant’s touch is so magical, it makes a world of difference. If you’re looking for a top producer Land Park agent, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
Our Carrara Marble Bath Remodel in Land Park
Completed Cararra Bath Remodel in Land Park
Although it may have taken twice the amount of time to finish our bath remodel in Land Park than it would have if I had been in charge of the contractors, I am not really complaining about the outcome of our Carrara marble bath. It was an extensive and exhaustive process. The workers did everything the “right” way, whereas, not knowing any better, I might have been tempted to slap up Durock and call it a day. I certainly make exceptions for quality work and taking time to ensure quality is maintained. Having done my own home improvement projects over the years with my own two hands, I appreciate a job in which pride reflects.
Our entire bath pretty much was covered in gray glass, so first all of that had to be removed from the walls. Followed by new sheetrock. Over the sheetrock went the wire and cement stuff. It’s not easy to adhere 18-inch Cararra to the walls. Plus, we had so many corners and turns in the walls themselves that it’s not like tiling four walls; it was more like 10 walls. All of the grout lines had to line up and run perpendicular on the floor.
I once tiled a fireplace that extended into the room, so I discovered first-hand that dealing with a three-dimensional object involving two-dimensional tile can make your head explode. Throw into this mix a knee wall made of block glass that I wanted to preserve, and it really took a master tile layer to deal with it. However, a master tile layer is only as good as the underlayment. The prep work is where 90% of the work is actually done.
The tile layer guy was sick for a little in the middle of this project so that caused a few days’ delay, and one guy had to go somewhere else to finish a bigger job, so that caused more delay, but still, I am not really complaining. I am a hard person to please, very much a perfectionist, and I love the end result. I’m ecstatic.
Well, there was that one part when I walked into the bath and the contractors had lines drawn and partially cut at the edge of the ceiling over the tub. I asked if that’s where they intended to install the new light and exhaust. Yup, it was. Why would you do that, I asked. Because putting the light at the edge of the tub would throw more light into the room, they responded.
This reminds me of how my brother tiled my sister’s bath. When I asked why the focal point was in such an odd place, his response was: that’s what you see when you’re sitting on the toilet. Guys! I swear. I asked them to move the light fixture and center it over the tub. Because the light is for the person who is sitting in the tub!
Below are the series of photos of our bath remodel, which I hope you enjoy:
Photos of Land Park Bath Remodel: Elizabeth Weintraub
Guest Bath Before Remodel
Shower and tub before bath remodel
Sheetrocking walls in guest bath
Stapling wire to the walls
Floating the walls for uniformity
Beginning to lay Cararra marble
Bubble border installed in bath
Finished bath remodel waiting for inspection
Moen sliding shower fixture over tub in bronze
Why is Land Park a Great Neighborhood?
What makes a good neighborhood a great neighborhood in Land Park? That question crossed my mind for two reasons. First, I was reading a blog written by an agent friend from Benicia about the topic of great neighborhoods. I read through her blog and into the responses. Somebody remarked that a good neighborhood is a place where people don’t mow lawns at 7 AM or sing along top volume to G-L-O-R-I-A at midnight and don’t run over your cat, and then it dawned on me, right at the point where I was thinking: hey, I completely agree with this poster, yeah, right on, that the person who wrote the comment was me. And that particular blog was written last year.
Which just made me laugh out loud. This Sacramento real estate agent gets around online, I guess.
Second, I think about when I retire, even though that’s a ways off and I don’t know where to retire, and I wonder about giving up the benefits we enjoy from living in Land Park. We all should appreciate the here and now while the here and now is here. I noticed that while watching Californication, the episode at Hank’s house when Becca tells him she’s getting married, which looks like that balcony scene was filmed in a beach community, maybe Venice or Malibu, in southern California. What I couldn’t help but notice was how close the houses are, tumbled on top of each other (which I had forgotten) and that most people left their windows open.
Being that close to the water means tourists, too. Traffic and noise. I used to live at 1234 Balboa Boulevard in Newport Beach in the 1970s, the decade in which I was first licensed to sell real estate. This was smack dab on the beach peninsula, extreme noise, traffic all day past my humble abode, but I never noticed it. Young people screaming, hootering and hollering, drinking and smoking pot and what-have-you, running amuck, carrying on, playing records too loudly, and this was just the noise from inside my apartment.
While I yearn to return to the beach life, I also realize that I will never afford a $10 million retreat on the water, which means anything less equates to putting up with a bit of noise. We don’t have noise in Land Park. It’s really quiet. No cars hardly drive down my street. There are no children squealing or shrieking around my house. My neighbors in Land Park are respectful and keep to themselves. Friendly enough when they need to be but mostly private. I like it this way.
Sometimes, when we leave the windows open at night, we can hear slight traffic way off in the distance or the fireworks from Raley’s field. With the windows closed, though, I don’t even notice the morning sprinklers which, due to the drought, is only twice a week now. I appreciate the silence. I especially love the fruit from my next door neighbor’s cherry tree as much as he enjoys the tomatoes from our garden. If you’re looking for a friendly but quiet neighborhood, you won’t find much better than Land Park.
You can view existing vintage homes in Land Park here or active listings of homes for sale in Land Park here.
A Hard to Sell Duplex in Land Park Closes Escrow
This blog is about selling a hard-to-sell duplex in Land Park, not far from my real estate office and my home. Now, one of the reasons that readers come back to my Sacramento real estate blog again and again is because I share stories and lessons I’ve learned in real estate. Even though I’ve been in the business for decades, I still learn something new with each transaction and through each closing, which is what keeps the real estate business exciting and interesting for this agent. This duplex in Land Park is one of those stories.
I just closed this duplex, which wasn’t quite located in Land Park proper, although it is situated in the same ZIP of 95818. I started working on this property a year ago to the very day it closed. This reflects patience and dedication on the part of this Sacramento real estate agent. It was a difficult property to sell. For many reasons.
There was nothing wrong with the property itself, though. In fact, it was a dream listing, if one isolated all of the other factors. It was better than a regular duplex in that it was not constructed up-and-down or side-by-side. The units were not attached to each other at all, which greatly increased the rentability factor. They were standalone, contemporary houses. In great condition.
Location was an issue because the property is under the W X Freeway. That means a duplex located in a desirable area of Midtown, for example, on a quiet street, would sell for more money than a duplex, say, under the freeway. And the sellers initially expected the same price as other duplexes in the area, regardless of location. Top that off with the fact they probably paid too much when they bought it as they are not from Sacramento, plus bought at the top of the market . . . and, well, it’s a recipe for a long struggle.
It’s hard to tell a client they made a mistake years ago. Nobody wants to hear that. Especially a seller who hopes to get top dollar today. I did mention I thought they overpaid even for market conditions at that time, but also explained it was water under the bridge now, realizing my words were probably not fully sinking in. I can’t go back in time to change that original purchase, and harping on a poor financial decision years ago at this point would have been hurtful. I’m not a hurtful person although I do stick to honesty.
Besides, I really liked the sellers. They are sincere, nice people. They are the kind of people who drove hours to Sacramento to meet with me personally because they wanted to shake my hand and look me in the eyeballs. I sell many homes for people I never meet, and that’s OK, too, but some people forge a special connection in person. These guys had worked with other agents in Sacramento and seemed very happy they found me.
Every week or so, I would send them a market update, showing that most duplex buyers either wanted to buy a duplex in Land Park or Midtown in a better area or buy a duplex for less money. Hey, facts are facts. I don’t hide them. But I also continued to plug away for them and pushed for their price. I advised the sellers to raise the rents, which helped tremendously with the cash-on-cash return for an investor. Buyers laugh when you tell them how much they could get in rent if the rent is not already being paid at that amount. You’ve got to show buyers, not tell buyers. I sent buyer feedback from agents.
We found buyers, finally. They came to look at the duplex last winter around Christmas before the rents were increased. These Sacramento investors did not write an offer until June. By then the cash flow was much more appealing. All of a sudden, a few days before closing, the buyers changed their minds and were about to cancel. Their buyer’s agent helped his clients get over cold feet and we closed on Friday. Patience paid off. It took a year, but this agent never gave up.
Buying a New Home in Land Park Sacramento
When I talk with people I haven’t talked with for years, they often ask if I am living in the same home in Land Park, as though the first thing they would do if they were selling 100 homes in Sacramento year after year would be to buy a new home. Not because I need a new home, mind you, but because I could. They ask I suppose because my existing home is not a mansion nor an estate, and that’s what they would buy. It’s just a plain ol’ single level home, around 2,000 square feet in Land Park.
It’s not located on a premiere winding street in Land Park and there is no view of William Land Park. There is no second or third floor. No marble floors with floor-to-ceiling columns. No four-car garage. No pool in the back yard. There is nothing all that remarkable about our home in Land Park. It suits our needs, and we’re happy with it.
But people are still astonished that we haven’t traded up or built our own mini-mansion because it’s something that most other people would do, I guess. I think buying a larger home is one of those items on a list when people play what one would do if one won the lottery. A larger home means more to clean, higher taxes and more crap that could go wrong. But that’s me. I’m also over 60 and less inclined to move again. My husband echoes that sentiment.
Fortunately, my clients often think differently and they might move every 5 to 7 years. I met with clients a few days ago who buy homes dirt cheap, remodel them and move up. It’s called buy, fix up and sell. There’s nothing wrong with that approach and, in fact, it’s a method I used myself over the years. We all have our different dreams and things we reach for. And that’s OK.
I dream of travel. I love to see new places, encounter different cultures, meet new people who can’t understand anything I say and vice versa (and I’m not just talking about the South). This morning I received a digital version of the Four Seasons magazine and was sidetracked for a while, reading about gourmet street food in Singapore, Budapest theatres and how to get a free night in Langkawi.
But a new place among Land Park homes for sale is not on the horizon for us. Our present home is just fine, even though we’ve lived here forever. If you’re looking to buy or sell a home in Land Park, please call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. I know just about every inch of my leafy neighborhood.
