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A Rainbow with Geese in William Land Park
My agent friend Myrl told me that I should carry a camera in my bike basket when I’m out riding because I will surely come across something I would like to take photo of and, sure enough, she was correct. While pedaling by homes in Land Park yesterday and around the geese in William Land Park, I did indeed come across a scene with a rainbow in it. When one spots a rainbow, it’s time to to stop and admire. We don’t have enough rainbows in our lives.
Although I did not bring my camera, I do have a caddy on my bike for strapping in my cellphone. You know, as a Sacramento real estate agent, it’s kinda hard to go anywhere without a smartphone. I might get a text message or an email or God forbid an actual phone call.
The secret to my success in real estate is that I answer my phone. I respond to text messages and emails. It’s not that I’m some super real estate freak; it’s just easier that way. Otherwise, messages can pile up and emails can be overwhelming. You might not know this, but I receive about 300 emails a day. Efficiency and organization is the way I stay on top of my game.
I hope you like this photo of the rainbow and geese in William Land Park. It’s not the best quality, not like my actual Nikon would shoot. But I do have an older Nikon lying around my home in Land Park somewhere. Perhaps I should find a bag for it and take it with me during my biking excursions around the geese in William Land Park from now on.
If Your Home in Land Park Doesn’t Immediately Sell
It’s pretty frustrating in a seller’s market for a seller to wonder why all the houses around his house are selling but his is not. Especially a gorgeous home in Land Park, listed by a Land Park agent. There are basically 3 reasons why a house doesn’t sell:
- location
- price
- condition
If the location is questionable or of concern to a buyer, then the price needs to be adjusted accordingly. It’s difficult to get the same price for a home like that as compared to a home in a highly desirable location, but sometimes you can.
The trick is to correctly position that home among the others offered for sale. A seller might want to think like a buyer before putting his home on the market. He should look for trends in the marketplace such as how long does it take each home to be exposed to the market before it sells? This is known as Days on Market. Any Land Park agent will know the approximate days on market when asked.
But more important, the seller should examine the competition, just like his Land Park agent will do. For example, if he were a buyer looking, say, in the $350,000 to $400,000 range for a home in Land Park, what else is available for sale? What can he buy for that price? How do those homes compare to the one the seller intends to put on the market? If his listing is the only available listing, he will get a lot of action, maybe even multiple offers, even if his home is not in the best location.
I’ve seen this happen over and over. Might have a home that sits on the market for a few weeks with no offers but generating a lot of showings. Getting showings tells this Land Park agent the buyer’s agent put the Land Park home on a tour for a reason. Was it the first home or the last home? Is the buyer’s agent using that home as the bad house nobody would ever buy? Agents often show a bad house to use as comparison. We might have no offers but one day three offers show up. If I were to check MLS, it would probably tell me there was nothing left to buy. Not in Land Park, nor Curtis Park nor East Sacramento, which are three areas a Land Park buyer might look if she wants to buy in Land Park.
Sometimes, your number just comes up. But wouldn’t it be easier to just reduce the price in the first place?
If you’d like to chat with an experienced agent who lives and works in Land Park, call Elizabeth Weintraub, at Lyon RE, 916.233.6759.
How to Get a Sweet Deal in This Sacramento Real Estate Market
If you’ve ever required special circumstances to sell your home in Sacramento, this is the market in which to do it. As a REALTOR in Sacramento, I can tell you unabashedly that buyers will agree to do some of the craziest things just to buy your house. It’s a seller’s market. Sellers rule. I keep thinking that we can’t possibly make the restrictions and conditions under which a seller will sell any more ridiculous, but then I surpass my own thoughts and beat my wildest imagination.
There is very little inventory in Sacramento. If you’ve got a desirable home, you can pretty much write the rules, as long as you’re not breaking any laws, under which you will agree to sell. Me? I just go with the flow and try to make my sellers happy. What I think about the situation is not really important. What matters is what my sellers would like to do and whether I can accomplish that for them. I don’t run around thumbing my nose at people, telling them I know more than they do, even if I do. I just find out what the seller wants, and then I determine whether I am up to the challenge. I love challenges.
I’ll show you one nutty situation. We were ready to close escrow on an Elk Grove short sale when one of the tenants refused to move out. The tenant said he’d go when the sheriff tossed him out on his ear (code for: give me some money). Two days before closing. The buyer’s agent said the buyer was canceling under those circumstances, so I put the home back on the market, with a pending rescission modifier. The confidential comments informed agents that a buyer would have to purchase this home sight unseen and close escrow with a hostile tenant inside. I received a bunch of offers. No joke.
Realizing this, the existing buyer closed.
In another transaction that closed last month, a seller did not want to move out until he moved into his new home. He was steadfast about it, and nothing I could say would change his mind. He also lived in a somewhat difficult area because this little pocket of homes sat among others that were nonconforming. There was only comparable sale. We bumped the price by 6% above that one comp and put it on the market. We received a good half-dozen offers or so, and one of those offers was cash and 4% above the list price. That means the home sold for 10% more than the last home like it. See, it doesn’t cost to hire a Sacramento real estate agent, it pays you.
On top of this, I put the seller into a contingent purchase for a short sale in Elk Grove. Elk Grove, one of the hardest places in town to buy because buyers can stand 30 deep. The contingency period didn’t last very long because I sold and closed his existing residence in 7 days. The buyer of his residence agreed to let the seller rent-back for a period of up to one year at about a $500 reduction from the monthly market rent. He has the right to move out during this one-year period with 30 days’ notice. If that’s not a sweet deal for that seller, I don’t know what is.
If you’ve got a home to sell in Sacramento, go ahead and call your Sacramento agent Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 39 years of experience to work for you.
New Doors on an Old Land Park Home
All my friends know what a remodeling nut I am. I love to remodel homes almost as much as I love to sell them. I know how to do many home improvement projects myself and have personally tackled skylight installations, putting in a fireplace, building a garage, along with the normal drywall, framing, tiling and gutting kitchen and bath stuff. There is not much I can’t do. Not because I’m some super creature but because home remodeling is not a terribly difficult task for a person with intellect, patience for do-overs and a bit of creativity.
I’ve been working on my home in Land Park practically since the day we moved in almost 11 years ago. There was not much left to do. In fact, when we ran out of things to do inside, we ripped out the sorry excuse of a weedy front lawn and laid new sod. The only thing we had not done was buy new doors. I don’t do doors. The last door I installed, I could not for the life of me figure out why the doorknob was so low. Until it dawned on me why. So, scratch the part about intellect. You just need patience and creativity.
We bought our doors from Home Story in Rocklin. Mike, the owner, came out to measure and make suggestions. The Craftsman style blended nicely with the age of our home. We replaced 14 interior doors and 3 exterior doors. One of the back doors was so badly burned by the sun and worn that it was beginning to crack down the middle. One hard slam would have split it in two.
Take a look at our before and after photos. Don’t you think they make an immense difference, not only in the appearance but also in the warmth of the space? If you’re looking to buy or sell a home in Land Park, call your Land Park agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759.
Need a Land Park or East Sacramento Agent? Hire a Specialist!
In this day and age, you really need a specialist, especially when it comes to selling homes in the Land Park area or East Sacramento neighborhoods. These homes are not your grandmother’s home in Elk Grove or Lincoln. These central city neighborhoods are long established and the homes are as different from each other as New Orleans is from New York City. If you need a Land Park or East Sacramento agent, I am your specialist!
In fact, it’s kind of hard to do anything without a specialist on your side. Like last Friday when I pulled into my driveway in Land Park, I noticed check engine oil illuminated on my dashboard. It had actually been lit up for several days, and I kept hoping that it was just a freaky thing that would eventually stop. The worst that would happen, I figured, is my car would stop running, and I’d abandon it at the curb and grab a cab, eventually calling for a tow truck, but that was unlikely. The way they make these warning features, you’ve generally got a bit of time before all hell breaks loose.
But I’m also a person who gets crap done. I take charge. I don’t sit around in the dark weeping helplessly because my lights won’t go on. Nope, I flip the breaker switch, grab a screwdriver, take apart my light switch and replace it. At least those things haven’t changed much over the years. Unlike a car. I opened my front trunk and looked for the engine. It wasn’t there. No friggin’ engine. I’m not really sure where my engine is located, but I suspect it’s in the middle somewhere, somewhere I can’t get to. I found the windshield washing fluid and the brake fluid, but no oil.
At this point, my husband ventured out. We opened the back trunk and dug through my piles of lockboxes and sold sign riders. Hmmm. What is this? My husband turned a cap and hot pink fluid sizzled out, which he quickly recapped. Well, that wasn’t the oil. Good thing I had had the foresight to have handed him a rag beforehand. I finally resorted to reading the owner’s manual. Yes, when all else fails. Read the manual. Turns out a person can check her oil by turning the key in the ignition, letting the engine idle and pushing a lever near the dash.
I had too much oil, that was the problem, and I just had the oil changed in Midtown. But I also had taken it to the dealer after that for warranty work, and some well meaning yo-yo must have topped off the oil, which is the wrong thing to do for a high performance vehicle like this. The mechanic was probably unsupervised.
You’d think the dealer is a specialist but the dealer’s job is to sell cars. The service department is auxiliary. Even the manufacturer won’t let the dealer perform warranty work without specific permission. My maintenance specialist is located in Midtown, and he removed a quart of oil for me.
If you need a real estate agent to buy or sell homes in Land Park or East Sacramento, call Elizabeth Weintraub. I live in Land Park, and my office is located at the edge of Midtown where it meets homes in East Sacramento. I know these neighborhoods. I know other areas in Sacramento, too. If you’d like to talk, please feel free to call 916.233.6759 or email me. I just might work in your neighborhood. I sold more than 150 homes last year, exceeding $32 million. You can trust that I know what I’m doing.
