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Gordon Lightfoot and The Dive Bar
The mermaid at The Dive Bar
The guy I felt sorry for last night was the poor valet dude at Ella Dining Room and Bar who, unknown to Myrl and me, had been waiting for an hour and a half for us to hightail our tipsy selves back to get our car. It was a miscommunication thing. I knew that we could leave the car with the valet at Ella while we scurried over to the Gordon Lightfoot concert at The Crest Theatre, because people do it all the time. Valet dude even asked us when the show ended, but we didn’t necessarily ask him when the restaurant closes.
We didn’t know we had a curfew. I’m telling you so if you go downtown Sacramento to dine at Ella and leave your car with the valet while you scamper off to some show at The Crest or some other mischief, that you make it a point to find out when you need to be back. Of course, Myrl and I, we could have walked back to my house, because the time distance on foot between my home in Land Park and the Crest Theatre is about 45 minutes. But somebody from Rocklin would probably have to hail a cab, and good luck with that in downtown Sacramento.
Myrl Jeffcoat and Elizabeth Weintraub at Macy’s
I decided yesterday not to take any appointments with my real estate clients for the rest of the afternoon because my friend, Myrl Jeffcoat, had agreed to a Chanel makeup session with me at Macy’s, dinner at Ella and then off to see Gordon Lightfoot. Myrl also sells real estate in Sacramento but that’s not what we talk about when we get together. An agent in my Lyon office talked us into the Chanel event, because I don’t care how old a woman gets, if she had fun with makeup as a teenager, it doesn’t really go out of style just because you’re an old goat. And I suppose that’s what keeps Chanel in business.
Myrl Jeffcoat at Ella Dining Room
After we finished our makeup, isn’t Myrl beautiful? we were immediately famished. Two Drunken Arnold Palmers we ordered at Ella, not really certain what was in the cocktail, but it was refreshing, and gingery. Yum. We don’t even play golf. Started off with a plate of succulent sea scallops, which melted in our mouths. Myrl chose the artichoke soup with bacon cream. How can you go wrong with bacon cream? You can’t. We finished with chilled lobster and dashed off to the show.
Gordon Lightfoot is older than dirt but he obviously enjoys putting on a show, and we felt honored to have snagged seats in the front. Nobody’s vocal chords seem to survive the aging process, so people who expected Gordon Lightfoot to sound like his old records might have been disappointed, but I was happy just to see him vertical. Not that I’ve ever seen him horizontal, mind you.
Gordon Lightfoot at The Crest Theatre
During the show, we chatted with guys in our row. When I asked Myrl if she had ever gone to a high school reunion, one of the guys perked up and said, “Yeah, but when I went to my 40th, there was nothing but old people there.” He stole my line. I had a strong urge to say, “You know, buddy, you’re no spring chicken yourself,” but I kept my lips zipped only because he couldn’t hear me. Then, later, while we were walking across the train tracks to the The Dive Bar, we realized those guys zipped backstage the minute the show was over. We could have been partying with the band, but no, we missed that opportunity! Darn, darn, darn.
Although, it’s hard to picture Gordon Lightfoot partying away, but if he did have an after-show get-together with all of his bandmates and buddies, well, we blew our big chance. What the hey. I am past 60, and Myrl is a grandmother, 9 years older than me. We giggled on over to The Dive Bar for a gin and tonic and to shoot photos of the mermaid. If you haven’t been to The Dive Bar, you’ve really got to go downtown Sacramento if for nothing else but to see the mermaid. The end of this story is we didn’t get arrested, we got our car back, and we made it home safely. The 3 ingredients for a great evening in downtown Sacramento!
Let’s Talk Like a Pirate About Sacramento Short Sales
What do you say to a biker whose motorcycle is blocking your car? Probably the same thing you’d say to a short sale negotiator, but then I’m not Myrl Jeffcoat. And Myrl Jeffcoat would most likely not be talking to a short sale negotiator regardless of how great of a Sacramento REALTOR Mryl might be because Myrl doesn’t particularly want to do short sales. Myrl is not a Sacramento short sale agent like insane REALTOR Elizabeth Weintraub, but that doesn’t mean she can’t appreciate the horror stories.
Since it was International Talk Like a Pirate Day yesterday, Myrl and I went to lunch in Land Park to celebrate. We parked in front of The Golden1 over on Broadway. The security guard made me re-park my car more efficiently because it was his job to stand in front of The Golden1 to ensure that there are at least 3 parking spaces at all times in front of The Golden1. I suppose he’s also there to shoot the little old ladies from Target who might try to rob the credit union. I hear that bank robberies by women are on the rise, and I’ve got to say you’ve come a long way, baby. Or, maybe men just want things done more efficiently. Hard to say. I’m not gonna argue with a security guard who gives me a free parking spot in front of The Golden1. I deal with short sale negotiators day in and day out, and you just give them what they want. You don’t argue.
Although, yesterday, a negotiator at AMS called; she was a bit flustered. AMS is a third-party vendor for Bank of America, which is my favorite, favorite, short sale bank. Oh, say what you will about B of A, maybe it’s simply the devil I know, but I love doing Bank of America short sales. This negotiator had asked previously for the seller agency. It had not been uploaded to Equator because there was no task for it. She had opened tasks for 2 other things but not the seller agency.
I thought this for a minute, and it dawned on me that this negotiator most likely had no idea what a seller agency was, so why did she want it? I asked her. She wanted it because the buyer’s agent had sent an extra copy with the offer, and the extra copy was not signed. Her job is to get signatures. I took the time to explain agency disclosures. How they work. Why we sign them. And asked if the seller had signed agency disclosure on a document with the buyer and the buyer’s agent. Yup, they had. So we were good, and she did not need another document. Once the negotiator understood this, she withdrew her request. This short sale was submitted for approval.
On the other hand, after lunch at The China Buffet, Myrl and I started to walk back toward my car. Myrl stopped at the bar, adjacent to The China Buffet. She stuck her head in the open door and announced that the owner of a motorcycle was blocking a vehicle in the parking lot. She demanded they remove it. At first, I wondered why Myrl cared about somebody else’s car. It seemed like she was about to provoke a biker who was drinking at noon inside a bar. Myrl is a lot smarter than that. I looked again at the vehicle. It was a Mercedes. I used to drive a Mercedes but I bought a new car last year; although German, it is not a Mercedes.
Oh, wait.
Well, I pondered the situation and decided I did not know Myrl. Nope, I believe this woman is a complete stranger to me, and I would keep right on walking. Yes, I believe I will walk across the street and stand on the sidewalk to see how this plays out. You know, she watched me park in front of The Golden1. She watched me walk back to my car and move it to a spot that made the security guard very happy. And now she was yelling at a biker in a bar. Perhaps she should talk like a pirate about Sacramento short sales and that will get her out of that bar alive.
This is one of the reasons I really enjoy hanging out with Myrl Jeffcoat. There is never a dull moment. Unlike this other short sale with Bank of America. It’s an FHA short sale, so it’s not in Equator and is a whole other animal. We’ve been working on it since February. Let’s just say the HUD procedures at B of A are a tad flawed but they can’t be the king of all short sales. I’m grateful for the traditional and the Cooperative Short Sales. The FHA short sales are the price to pay for those. It’s a tradeoff.
Our negotiator at Bank of America promised after all of these months she would approve the short sale on Wednesday. Said as soon as we got her the extension from Citimortgage (there is a second loan who approved months ago), she would issue the approval. We were so excited. We emailed her to remind her of her promise to send the approval letter. In exchange, we received this email (I kid you not):
I will be out of the office starting 09/19/12 for an undetermined amount of time. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact New Negotiator assigned to the file. Customer Service phone # 866.880.1232.
I can see that it’s time to Tweet the Bank of America Social Media Team. Arrr, me mateys and drunken sailors. Yes, let’s talk like a pirate about Sacramento short sales.
