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Elizabeth Weintraub Team Ranks in 3 Top Agents at Lyon Real Estate
Pat Shea hands award to Elizabeth Weintraub for 2016 production in 3 top agents at Lyon Real Estate.
A funny thing happened at the Lyon Real Estate Awards last night at Memorial Auditorium, not the least withstanding is the Elizabeth Weintraub Team ranks in 3 top agents at Lyon Real Estate for 2016 production. In fact, I was sorta thinking that somebody was gonna come up on stage and snatch the award out of my hands and say, sorry, Elizabeth, that award belongs to the #7 agent at Lyon Real Estate, like the Oscar snafu this year. I did not expect to end the year ranking in the 3 top agents at Lyon Real Estate. I knew I would be in the top 1% because I always am, but I thought that last year my top 3 ranking might have slipped, yet no.
But what was even weirder was there was no #7 in the top agent award category. Lyon always names the top 10 agents in the company at the awards celebrations each year. They count down from 10, stop after #4 and then they clear the stage for the 3 top agents at Lyon. Except this year they counted down: 10, 9, 8, 6, 5 and 4. What happened to number 7?
This year, Marilyn Goff from Cameron Park delivered a moving and noticeably challenging speech; she is so brave and I admire her courage. She received a bouquet of flowers with her award.
From left, Pat Shea, Marilyn Goff, Elizabeth Weintraub and Tom Phillips, 2016 Lyon Awards.
Lyon used to give its 3 top agents extra gifts, like a goodie bag. One year I received a tablet, among other things, but that tradition seems to have gone away. What we receive now is another huge glass vase that is inscribed with the year, status and our name. And the thing is heavy. Not as heavy as my evening bag, studded with rhinestones. That thing was so heavy you could use it as a weapon. One slam to the side of the head and an attacker would be flat on the floor. A girl’s gotta carry protection.
The Elizabeth Weintraub Team: Josh Amolsch, Amy McMullan, Elizabeth Weintraub, Shaundra Bradley, Barbara Dow
Hey, the Elizabeth Weintraub Team cleans up well, doncha think? The theme for the awards dinner was Red Carpet, which is why there were two tall statues that resembled Oscar but had minor differences to ensure Lyon would not get sued. For example, the real Oscar, although male, is fairly gender free of certain traits, but this particular Oscar version, well, let’s just say people were trying to cover up certain parts when they stood in front of it for photos.
Elizabeth Weintraub poses in front of Oscar R Us at the Lyon Awards 2017.
There is really nothing the 5 of us on the Elizabeth Weintraub Team cannot do. We operate on the premise of our clients come first, and we cover each other’s back. Nothing slips through the cracks with us. You might be tired of hearing me say we work like a well-oiled machine, but it’s true. I manage our listings; Josh, Amy and Barb place all of our buyers, and Shaundra is the glue that glides us in what seems like an effortless endeavor to closing.
Thank you, Josh, Amy, Barbara and Shaundra for another wonderful year at Lyon Real Estate. The Elizabeth Weintraub Team would not excel if not for all of you. Dan Tharp at Guild Mortgage was out of town this year and could not attend the Lyon Real Estate Awards, but Dan, we want you to know you are valuable and adored by us as well.
If you need help with Sacramento real estate, please call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
Can New Home Buyers Remove the Realtor Sign in the Yard?
There is protocol to follow to remove a Realtor sign.
It is probably annoying, that Realtor sign in the yard after closing. After all, the sign is all about the listing company and listing agent, which often has little bearing on the new home buyer. If we did a ton of dual agency transactions in which we directly represented the buyer as well (which we don’t), I imagine the new buyers might not get so irritated over the Realtor sign in the yard because there would be some kind of identification with it. They would feel an association. Immediately after closing, though, buyers want to remove that Realtor sign. It’s their home now and no longer for sale.
Some new home buyers go so far as to yank the Realtor sign out of the ground and throw it down. Hey, just because the seller didn’t agree to make repairs for you is no reason to dump the seller’s broker’s sign into the dirt. Years later, when you forgot who your buyer’s agent was and are looking for a top listing agent in Elk Grove or the greater Sacramento area to sell your home, you will probably call the Elizabeth Weintraub Team at Lyon Real Estate. There is no reason to burn bridges because she represented the seller and not you in the initial transaction. You want this kind of assertive agent on your side. Because Elizabeth will be the listing agent you will probably call, even if you don’t realize it yet.
Other home buyers sometimes stash the sign in the garage or in the back yard, wrongly thinking, I suppose, that the sign company representatives will get out of their vehicles and politely knock on the door to inquire about its whereabouts. No, they won’t. And that for sale sign will sit in your garage until it rots. They’ll stop, look around, and if they don’t see the sign, they will drive off. They also won’t trespass on your property to retrieve the sign from behind a side gate because that is prohibited.
If you don’t know when the Realtor sign will be removed, text your buyer’s agent and ask. Your agent can notify the Elk Grove listing agent — and I mention Elk Grove because missing Realtor signs seem to happen there more so than West Sacramento, for example — to find out when the sign company will come by. When my listings close, I generally notify my office to send out the sign removal guys to pick up the signs. If I don’t, there will be a delay. First the title company needs to send the closing paperwork to our corporate office at Lyon Real Estate on American Drive. Then the paperwork is overnighted to our branch office, but probably not on the same day. After our office assistants receive the paperwork from corporate, they schedule the sign removal guys to come out.
The sign removal guys don’t work on Sunday or Monday. So, you can see a closing that happens on Friday, say, won’t have the Realtor sign removed from the yard until probably Wednesday. There should be a better way to do this within our closing-out system, but for now, that’s the way it is. It doesn’t mean we don’t care or have forgotten about the Realtor sign. Please just leave it in the yard.
The Skinny on the McKinley Village Housing Development in East Sacramento
We are selling homes in McKinley Village. The Elizabeth Weintraub Team represented a home buyer for a roof-top patio plan with a first-floor bedroom in the mid-500’s. I should say that whenever I receive calls about homes in East Sacramento, some of the questions that invariably pop up are about the McKinley Village housing development, which is why we are becoming experts on this development, spearheaded by developer Phil Angelides.
Angelides has faced a long battle to bring the McKinley Village housing development to fruition. For a while there, all the main thoroughfares in East Sacramento featured lawn signs against McKinley Village. Some, not all, of the objections are based on NIMBY. Which is also interesting because there is another project clearing ground in Upper Land Park for new housing on 5th Street, called The Mill at Broadway, and nobody in Upper Land Park seems to carry on with much public opposition, even though it will bring more traffic and air pollution to this densely populated area. Upper Land Park residents seem to be of the mindset, yay, get rid of that eyesore and bring in a community. East Sacramento residents appear the opposite.
An issue with the McKinley Village housing development has been access to the 49-acre site. First, I hate to say this, but please let me point out that this development lies between the Business 80 freeway and the Union Pacific railroad tracks. It’s not exactly your premier location, following the adage of location, location, location in real estate. 52 trains a day go by. Who wakes up one morning to declare, Holy Toledo, Henry, you know let’s move out of this dump and take up residence in a new area sandwiched between the freeway and rail tracks. Doesn’t that sound lovely? Not to mention, the site of the former city landfill, but what the hey. The tradeoff is it will be brand new housing. Plus, a 10-minute commute to downtown Sacramento.
Construction begins summer of 2015 on a tunnel that will provide the main point of entry into the development. It will cost around $10 million and take a year-and-a-half to complete. The spot of entry is between 40th Street and Tivoli from C Street. The secondary location will be to improve the existing overcrossing from 28th Street. My real estate office, Lyon, is located just a few blocks away down 28th Street on the corner of J Street, and while I almost get killed now trying to pull out from the garage alley onto 28th Street, I imagine the traffic will pick up. Which means Lyon Real Estate has a great spot for visibility, and we’ll probably get more phone calls about the McKinley Village development than any other real estate office in Sacramento.
The tunnel is slated for completion around April of 2016 and construction should begin on the model homes next October. These are ultimately 60 different styles of homes in the works, ranging from 1,200 to 3,000 square feet, offering 312 single family homes and 4 six-plex condo buildings. The six-plex condo buildings lie in the center of the property, most likely will have the least amount of exterior noise, and the top units have an elevator. How cool is that? We have all the floor plans and model names.
If you’re interested in buying a home in East Sacramento close to the development at today’s affordable prices I suggest you take a look at my listing on #1 Declan Court in Sacramento. These are a group of brand new homes on the former site of 6014 T Street, 3 master suites, solar and priced at $449K with all upgrades. Call or text your East Sacramento Realtor, Elizabeth Weintraub, Lyon RE, at 916.233.6759, for more information. Of course, we’re also happy to show you homes in McKinley Village.
Remember, once you step on a builder’s property without a REALTOR, your agent might not be able represent you if you are not registered with the builder through your agent. But call us, we can work around it if you’ve already been there. Sure, call the top producing Elizabeth Weintraub Team today at 916.233.6759. Get your own buyer’s agent, like us. It’s the smart thing to do.
Does It Matter Which Agent You Hire to List Your Sacramento Home?
It matters a great deal which agent in Sacramento will list your home. I’ll tell you why. When people ask me how much I charge for commission, the first thing I realize is they don’t really know very much about Sacramento real estate agents or the business, which is OK, but it tends to explain why they may harbor the wrong belief that all real estate agents are the same. Some sellers believe that agents are separated only by the amount of commission they charge, and other than that, we’re all identical.
Which is a shame because it’s not true.
Real estate agents are not the same. We are all different. We come from every walk of life, with varying degrees of education and experience. You’ve got high school dropouts working alongside of guys with Ph.D degrees. Some of us are top producers selling a hundred homes or more every year, some consistently sell at least once house a month, and some agents sell a home every few months or so just to keep toes in the water. Some of us earn our full commissions and others barely stay alive on discounted fees.
Some agents are hysterical and maniacal. Others are calm, tempered and even keel. I believe clients prefer an agent who is loyal, dedicated and works her fingers to the bones for them. Kinda like Freda Kelly, who was the secretary of the Beatles fan club for 11 years. She kept her lips zipped and ran a tight ship. Didn’t even speak out about her experiences until 50 years later.
If Freda promised a fan a lock of John’s hair, they got a lock of John’s hair. If she promised that Paul would sleep on the pillowcase a fan sent to her, you can bet that Paul’s face had been pressed overnight into the pillowcase, even if she had to nag Paul’s mom about it.
If you’re thinking about hiring an agent to list your Sacramento home, you may also want to consider the mission, qualifications and local customs of the brokerage where your agent works. Not every real estate brokerage in town, for example, supports agents who want to hold open houses. I can tell you that Lyon Real Estate is a huge proponent of open houses, and ranks itself as the number 1 real estate brokerage in Sacramento with 17 or so offices and almost 1,000 agents.
When I list your Sacramento home and agents spot the name of Lyon Real Estate, they also recognize my name and know I will handle the transaction fairly, honestly, efficiently and without preferential treatment of some agents over others. That’s not to say an agent who works by herself or at a small boutique might not be qualified in that light, but she won’t have the advantage the number 1 real estate company can offer.
I’m not the answer for everybody to list your Sacramento home. I might be the answer for you, though. I do what I say I’m gonna do. Hundreds of happy clients are proof. You can call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Don’t be that seller whose deal blows up and wonders why.
Is Your MetroList Rapattoni Client Portal Broken?
Tech Support at Rapattoni report the Rapattoni client portal is broken and is not working correctly all over the country — not just in Sacramento. Listings vanish before our client’s eyes. That doesn’t make us feel any better to know we are not alone with a broken client portal. Not every real estate agent has a problem, either, with the client portal from Rapattoni; it’s sporadic. For example, this Sacramento real estate agent doesn’t have that problem. I set up client portals to test the issue and they worked for me, but one of my team members continually struggles. He’s a young, techie guy, too, just in case any readers are wondering about the ever-ubiquitous operator error.
We called MetroList, which didn’t seem to be aware of the problem until we talked with Rapattoni. The Support team at Rapattoni confirmed that client portals are not working for other real estate agents as well. It’s odd that it works for some and not all, but that seems to be the case. My team member was also able to show the Support employee at Rapattoni how to duplicate the issue of vanishing listings.
A broken client portal is very frustrating for our real estate clients. They don’t have the kind of patience that Rapattoni possesses. They want their client portals to work, and they want them to work today. There seems to be no definitive deadline as to when Rapattoni will fix the problem.
I can’t send clients to iHomefinder searches because those are broken now, too.
MetroList is a monopoly. We Sacramento real estate agents are forced to rely on and exclusively use MetroList. There is no other system we can use. It’s not like we can call up Apple and ask them to fix the Rapattoni problem. We can’t go to Google to complain. We’re pretty much stuck with it. And since it doesn’t seem to affect a large number of agents, our priority level is low.
But I’d still rather talk to MetroList than listen to a Sacramento home buyer rant and rave because he’s already bought a home and wants to know why my team members at Lyon Real Estate closed down his client portal access. Because, dude, you already bought a house, that’s why. You’re in escrow. Looking at homes to buy is over. Standard real estate practice 101. You want to screw around online, hang out on Zillow or Trulia and look at shit that’s not for sale. You’re not singled out.
And neither are we. We continue to wait week after week for Rapatonni to resolve the broken client portal issue. Until then, we will probably drive to your home to hand deliver listings if that’s what it takes. We go that extra mile. That’s just the kind of Sacramento real estate agents we are.
