Email Elizabethlighthouse marina
The Housewives of Homes in West Sacramento
The names and places in this story have been changed to protect the innocent, and it did not really happen in an HOA like The Rivers at West Sacramento, but that’s as good as place as any to depict the true events. Because it could have happened there, even though it didn’t. If you’ve ever lived in a community with restrictions and come into contact with unreasonable homeowners who have chiseled the 10 commandments of the HOA onto their dining room wall, you’ll probably recognize some of the emotional content.
There I was, sitting in a chair on rollers at the nail salon in Land Park, drying my manicure at the station under fans and purple blacklights. My bluetooth jangled and I carefully reached up with one wet finger to depress the button and greet the caller. I barely got my name out before the woman on the other end of the phone began screeching the address of one of my listings, let’s say it’s in the West Sacramento gated community, The Rivers, but it’s not. I have a couple listings there, but this is not either.
My first reaction was to tell her the home is in escrow, which it was. Sometimes I don’t admit that fact that right away, especially if it’s a buyer calling to inquire about a property, because if the home is pending I might have another home that would work or be able to locate another like it. I don’t want potential buyers to hang up without talking with me a little bit so I can get better acquainted with their needs and perhaps help. But this woman was not one of those. I could tell by the way she screeched and the hostility in her voice. She was definitely on the rampage.
Well, she announced that she didn’t give a rat’s patootie that the home was in escrow. She lived behind my listing in West Sacramento and was calling about the #*#%(@! camellia trees in the back yard. The woman who was sitting next to me edged a bit further away because I imagine she could hear my caller screeching and probably thought somebody was dying. What was wrong with the camellia trees? Usually irate neighbors call to yell about camellia flowers falling in their yards because maybe they think the real estate agents should be standing in the back yard holding out nets to catch errant tree waste before it blows over the fence.
After much hoopla, her problem seemed to be that her gardener proposed that perhaps my seller’s camellia tree roots were invading the yard and interfering with the neighbor’s sprinkler system. One of her sprinkler heads broke and she immediately pointed her well manicured finger at her neighbor. Not only that, she hissed, but she called The Rivers and the HOA told her that camellias are not allowed under association rules. So, Miss, what are YOU gonna do about THAT? I can stop your closing of escrow.
She doesn’t possess that power. I let her know I would contact the seller and asked if the number she was calling me from was the best number for the seller to reach her. This released even more rage. What? She thought I was the seller. Wow. But I was not the seller; I was just the West Sacramento real estate agent. No, she spit, the number on my phone is NOT the number the seller should use. The seller should call her cellphone. I asked if she could please call me back and leave her cellphone number on my voicemail, explaining that I could not write it down at the moment.
More yelling.
Was I on Candid Camera? I glanced around the salon.
Listen, seriously, I pleaded, I am at a nail salon with my wet nails under a dryer, and I cannot write down your cellphone number; I’m sorry.
Well I am in my kitchen drinking coffee, she retorted, and I’m just as busy as you are!
What is this, Housewives of West Sacramento? She promised to call me back in 15 minutes but did not. It’s too bad you can’t physically slam down a cellphone or she would have done it. People. Sometimes they are their own worst enemy.
Tale of a Short Sale in The Rivers of West Sacramento
Homes don’t come up for sale very often in The Rivers in West Sacramento, that subdivision known as the Lighthouse Marina (misspelled in many public records), which helps to produce high demand for these homes. It’s a very pretty gated community, featuring an assortment of maple trees and other landscaping approved by the HOA, The Rivers.
Thank goodness the U.S. Government isn’t in the habit of donating armed military tanks to HOAs because The Rivers would surely delight in owning one. Lord help you if you have a tree in your yard that is not approved by the HOA, or if you try to hold an estate sale, because it’s not allowed. They take their business of uniformity very seriously in this community, and it’s a comfort to those who live there, so I’m not knocking it.
I sold a home on Fountain Drive right on the levee last year which was one of several short sales. This particular home had been a model home and originally sold at roughly $1.5 million, IIRC. With the down market, it sold at $460,000.
It did not surprise me when I received another listing this summer in The Rivers that was slated to be a short sale. A beautiful home of almost 5,000 square feet located on a premium lot that was once a golf course and now a park. Tremendous views. When I first listed the home, the sellers of another home called to ask if they could buy it as a contingent sale. I offered to list their home, but they couldn’t act fast enough and another cash buyer swooped in to make an offer on my listing.
The sellers accepted that offer, and then we had to do battle with the buyer for another week just to pull a proof of funds. The buyer could not understand why the short sale bank refused to accept the offer without their proof of funds, and they continued to submit paperwork that did not conform — trying to make a round peg fit into a square hole, which does not work on a short sale. They dinged around in escrow for 2 months, long enough for us to get a confirmed price, which they refused to meet.
Back on the market again, and this time the first set of buyers who could not act fast enough came back into the picture. They had now hired a real estate agent, a neighbor, which was OK with me. I don’t care who buys the property, and I don’t need every listing in Sacramento. I’m not that kind of agent. They would not receive any “special treatment” whether they were my buyers with a second listing or another agent’s buyers, so it did not make any difference to this Sacramento real estate agent.
I know there are agents who don’t understand nor agree with that kind of philosophy. They would have jumped on this like hot fudge on a sundae. They would have grabbed that listing, grabbed these buyers as their own, and made a ton of money from it because that’s their focus. It’s not my focus. My focus is exceptional service with integrity. Sometimes, it means I miss a few bucks here and there, but so what.
About this time I did receive a call from another couple of buyers who were very insistent that I represent them in dual agency. I flat out refused these people. They hinted that they expected a discount on the price and they assumed that by working with me, I would gladly give it to them — that I would lower my ethical standards for a paycheck — which is insulting on so many levels. People like that don’t see it, though. They can’t see past their own greed.
It was a little risky with the contingent buyers, but it was a measured risk and I knew their agent would sell their home. By the time Wells Fargo insisted that we resubmit without the contingency, they sold their home and were approved to buy this short sale in The Rivers. We closed escrow without a hitch, and the sellers could not be more happy / relieved. The buyer’s agent was a sheer delight to work with as well. Many of the windows in that home were defective, and she worked with the manufacturer to get them replaced for free. Remember that if you are buying a home that is still under a builder warranty.
Which reminds me, I forgot to ask the sellers for a review. I’m confident they’ll give me 5 stars.
