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Working Sacramento Real Estate in the Cloud Means Hello Hawaii
Working on Sacramento real estate in the cloud can give you this view in Hawaii.
Many Sacramento Realtors nowadays work real estate in the cloud and they don’t even realize what they can actually do. When you look at my background, the fact I started in real estate in the 1970s, you would not think that I might readily adapt to working real estate in the cloud, but then you might not know me. I might be an old fart, yet I adapt to technology easily. I’ve been online since 1991. My entire Sacramento real estate business is pretty much handled not person-to-person but computer-to-computer.
If a client needs to see my cheerful face, I can use FaceTime. I work with many people I’ve never met. Some of my clients I’ve never talked to, never heard their voices. I manage my files and tend to exceed the expectations of my clients without ever shaking hands. My team members can carry me through a home via an iPad, showing me the big picture and the small details, if I need it. So, it’s no small miracle that as I’m about to take off for our house in Hawaii, the day before I ended up taking several listings.
That’s all it takes, you know, it’s the forces of nature. Soon as I haul out a suitcase, sellers who want to sell their homes are dinging my email and ringing my cell. That’s OK. I handle it. Like the sellers who emailed me late Tuesday night to say they wanted me to list their home in Tahoe Park. Said they had been trying to sell it for 6 months and the listing expired. Wha? In this market? Turns out it was previously listed by the same discount agent my Curtis Park seller fired before hiring me. What are the odds of THAT? I squeezed an inspection into my day before leaving and got all the paperwork signed within 24 hours.
Most agents would not list several homes the day before a 6-week getaway to Hawaii. They would be stressed out packing, making sure they didn’t forget anything. If I forget an item, I’ll buy it in Hawaii. My clients come first. In fact, I am betting my clientele won’t even know where I am, unless they are reading this blog. Because they’ll get the same expedient service whether I am in Sacramento in front of my desktop or whether I am lounging on my lanai staring out at the ocean with a laptop in my lap. I love my job.
This is one of the best perks of investing 40+ years in a real estate career and working real estate in the cloud. An organized Realtor can do it from anywhere. Given a choice between 6 weeks of rain and fog in Sacramento or warm ocean breezes, with all other things remaining relatively the same, I sure know which one I’ll pick.
Photos from 7 Days in Barcelona, Spain
Elizabeth Weintraub at Montjuic Castle overlooking the port in Barcelona
Barcelona was the last stop on our 3-week vacation this summer. After spending 4 days in Portugal, then cruising to Casablanca, the Rock of Gibraltar, on to the island of Ibiza, followed by Mallorca, plus a few towns south of Barcelona, we finished our holiday with 7 days in Barcelona, Spain, and it was not enough time. When is a vacation ever enough time?
It’s been said that Barcelona is a place where you can throw your passport into the sea and never go home again. I can understand that sentiment.
A bridge of sighs off La Rambla in Barcelona
Our first day, we walked along La Rambla, securing our belongings as we heard pickpockets were ubiquitous. One tourist had her bag snatched from her side as she stood between two men. But the shops, the people, the restaurants, the florists, the music, provided enough nonstop action that I felt like a labrador surrounded by squirrels. Sensory overload.
I discovered an exquisite leather shop where I bought a couple of handmade bags as gifts. Mostly I shopped for my team members. Nearby is the Barcelona Cathedral, beautiful gothic architecture, but I was too tired from shopping to go inside.
Soap bubbles tumble by an ornate fanal in Ciutadella Park, past the Arc De Triomf
Just past the center of the city is the Ciutadella Park, a long stretch of a public park that goes on for blocks and blocks leading up to the zoo. You can see soap bubbles in the photograph above because guys were standing in the middle of the sidewalk waving giant soap wands to entertain the kids. Off to the sides of the park, we saw a tennis player practicing with a portable device that let him whack the tennis ball and it came back to him.
Others pushed baby carriages, daughters sat with older relatives to enjoy the warm weather and young couples played ball with their dogs. Everybody was out and about, yet it wasn’t crowded. It was a perfect Sunday afternoon to visit the Barcelona Zoo, which is at the end of the Ciutadella Park.
Many exotic birds can be found at the Barcelona Zoo like this red and yellow barbet from East Africa
I cannot count the number of photos I shot of the exotic birds at the Barcelona Zoo. We were inside the building with the birds for a long time. The Zoo sports the normal animals, too, like meerkats, rhinos, elephants, giraffes and all sorts of monkeys and gorillas. Can’t say lunch was much to speak of as there were no good restaurants at the Barcelona Zoo, but I definitely recommend the Zoo for a visit if you have 7 days in Barcelona.
Elizabeth Weintraub at the Torre d’Alta Mar Restaurant in Barcelona, Spain
You can’t miss the Torre d’Alta Mar Restaurant in Barcelona. It rises 75 meters high, and is located at the top of the cable car tower. You can take a cable car there during the day or you can ride up in the elevator at night. We chose this restaurant because it has a Michelin star and we love tasting menus, coupled with wine pairings.
The Torre d’Alta Mar Restaurant offers panoramic views of Barcelona
Our dinner was fabulous. The first course was served in a small shell, followed by several creative presentations, but my favorite was the sea bass. I don’t usually like the skin of fish but the skin was more lovely than the flesh. As expensive restaurants go, this place was fairly reasonable. We choose a 6-course dinner which, with wine, wasn’t even $200.
No visit to Barcelona is complete without a visit to the La Boqueria market.
During our 7 days in Barcelona, we knew we had to see La Boqueria market. It was picking a day and time when we could get there in early morning to late morning to enjoy the marketplace before it closed up around 2 PM. We sampled chocolates, pastries, wild strawberries, sniffed the dragonfruits, took photos of goat heads and settled into a cafe out back for lunch.
Part of the ceiling of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain
The reason to come to Barcelona, for many people, is due to one person and one person only. That person is the amazing architect Antoni Guadí. You see his distinctive style everywhere. Apartment buildings, homes, lampposts, and one of the first places we walked to upon the inception of our 7 days in Barcelona was Casa Batlló and La Pedrera.
The most viewed tourist attraction in Barcelona is Gaudi’s Sagrada Família, a Roman Catholic church that Gaudi worked on from 1883 to his death in 1926, leaving the project unfinished. It is now a Unesco World Heritage site. Workers are still finishing the building, and it is expected to be completed in 2026, another 10 years from now.
We learned from our travel agent that we could buy tickets online, which we did before leaving Sacramento, so we did not have to stand in line. You can go up in the tower via an elevator, but you have to walk down the nautilus snail stairs all by yourself. This is a place where you can spend hours studying the various facades and marveling in the glory.
Although touristy on the sandy beach, Barceloneta is a neighborhood still populated by Catalan locals.
The last of our 7 days in Barcelona were not spent at the Barceloneta Beach, which I lamented as we walked by. We didn’t spend any time at the beach, which I thought we would. It was the beach or the Picasso Museum, and we both preferred Picasso. We’ve been to the Picasso Museum in France but much of that is his later stuff. The museum in Barcelona features his early work.
Just to stand and admire the painting First Communion makes your spine tingle. You feel like you can almost reach out and touch the lace on the white dress, it shimmers. And then you realize Picasso was 14 when he painted it, and you want to pass out right there on the floor.
I bought a small print from his series of pigeons, which we now have hung in our family room, and every time I look at the print, I am reminded of our visit to the Picasso Museum.
Photos: © Elizabeth Weintraub
Review: Penthouse Suites on Crystal Symphony
The back side of the lido deck on the Crystal Symphony.
Before I review the penthouse suites on Crystal Symphony, let me say that although I am not really a fan of cruises, I seem to end up on ships through no fault of my own. Probably because in some cases it’s the best way to see a lot of territory or to visit hard-to-reach foreign places. Like a cruise to the Inside Passage of Alaska or to the Galapagos or tooling around Ha Long Bay in Vietnam. All of those vessels were very small ships. Fewer than 30 passengers.
The thing small ships offer is an intimate experience sans obnoxious people, for the most part. There is always that one person, though, you wished would shut up but continuously yaks and yaks.
Penthouse Suite on the Crystal Symphony is on Deck 10.
When I found a Mediterranean cruise offered penthouse suites on Crystal Symphony, it seemed like an interesting idea to try this sort of experience. The penthouse suites featured almost 500 square feet. Additional delights: a Jacuzzi tub in the bath with dual sinks and a separate shower. A master bedroom with its own window, separate from the living area. Huge walk-in closet.
Penthouse suite verandah on Crystal Symphony boarding in Lisbon, Portugal
This type of accommodation appealed to me because it meant no more crouching over the toilet to take a shower. Penthouse suites on the Crystal Symphony offered a bit more elbow room. Plus, we could enjoy our own private balcony without having to lounge in the company of hundreds of other passengers on the noisy Lido deck where you have zero chance to choose the music that offends your ears.
Window dining with Elizabeth Weintraub aboard the Crystal Symphony
The Crystal Symphony has 476 cabins that can accommodate 952 to 1,095 passengers. The hallways are long, like Twilight Zone long, where the rooms seem to go on and on and on, never ending. There are elevators, though. And the staff knows your name, everywhere you go, and being a Penthouse Suite guest, you get special treatment. In fact, you don’t really have to mingle at all with anybody else if you don’t want to. Nice option for introverts.
Elizabeth Weintraub with a glass of champagne at Penthouse Suite Crystal Symphony.
Our first day, we were introduced to our butler, Malind. He explained all the stuff that was included in the penthouse suites on Crystal Symphony, like everything in the mini bar, bottles of wonderful Portuguese, French and Spanish wines, a daily refreshment of gourmet chocolates and fresh fruit, plus snacks in the afternoon like shrimp cocktails with a bowl of cashew nuts.
Malind mentioned the French champagne chilling on ice as our welcome gift. I waved my hand toward the bucket and joked, “You better make sure to refill that every day, OK?” And his response was, “Yes, Ma’am.” My jaw dropped. Yes, we had died and gone to heaven.
Our penthouse suite was number 1033, right in the middle of the ship on the 10th deck. Being mid-ship means you don’t feel a lot of the rocking and rolling that you can get by being near the port or bow areas. I had a slight concern that the close proximity of the elevator would be a bit noisy, but it was very quiet. Sleeping was fairly easy except for the night we sailed from Casablanca north along Africa toward Gibraltar.
Crab salad aboard the Crystal Symphony Accent on Spain cruise.
Every day when we appeared at the entrance to the dining room, serving staff and managers lined up in front to welcome us. Usually I don’t like that kind of fawning, but after a few days you did recognize the staff and they probably also recognized us, so it wasn’t necessarily put on.
The meals were incredible, of course. Crystal Symphony also offered selections that fell into the lighter / low calorie / low carbs category for lunch, which was a great sign that they figured out not everybody enjoys high fat / high caloric meals. At the end of the cruise, our evening server presented us with an envelope containing all of the menus for all of the dinners. Why? I don’t know. We threw it away.
Adam Weintraub at Deck 5 lounge on Crystal Symphony
We did not participate in many of the evening activities, and there were many options, generally because after shore excursions in the hot sun, we did not have a lot of energy left at the end of our days. Plus, we often had to get up early to prepare for the next shore excursion the following day, which meant no all-night partying for us.
One night we stopped in the lounge on Deck 5 for a nightcap, and Adam ordered an 18-year Glenfiddich, which has now become my new favorite scotch. Everybody else seemed to be occupied in the casino or the movie or the show theaters. The only movie we saw was Suffragette, which was better than we expected it to be.
Elizabeth Weintraub at Captain’s Cocktail Party on Crystal Symphony.
One night we attended the Captain’s Cocktail Party. Guests who stay in the Penthouse Suites on Crystal Symphony received a private invitation to this event, although I suspect the penthouse stateroom guests were invited as well, but maybe not. This was the second time we appeared at the Captain’s door as we had misread the invitation and showed up a day early the night before. A bit embarrassing. Which meant, of course, we had to go the following night because who shows up a day early for an event and then does not attend the event at its scheduled time?
Elizabeth Weintraub playing Mastermind on Crystal Symphony
You can see by this angle that I was very close to winning the first game of Mastermind. I was completely unaware that Adam had shot this photo, so focused on strategy, just like I concentrate on Sacramento real estate. I zone in. The library offers games, videos, books, maps, all sorts of stuff. Outside of the library and down the hall were large engraved plaques hanging on the wall with photos of Mary Tyler Moore and Angela Lansbury who, for some reason, christened the maiden voyage of Crystal Symphony.
In retrospect, if we planned another cruise on Crystal Symphony, I would probably opt for the penthouse staterooms and not pay extra for the suite. The two differences that I noticed were the living area and bedroom were closer together in the stateroom, and there is no window in the bedroom. But we kept the drapes closed at night and early morning, so having the extra window was not a big deal. The penthouse stateroom is a bit under 400 square feet, so it’s still a decent size for a cruise ship and would have been just as acceptable as well.
To give you an idea of cost, take an upcoming 14-day cruise from Lisbon to Rome next month aboard the Crystal Symphony. The advertised non-discounted fare for penthouse staterooms is 12,950 per person versus 17,580 per person for the penthouse suites.
The entire Accent on Spain cruise was like a fairytale I wished would never end. The only real complaint I have is the internet. Crystal Cruises limits the satellite internet to 60 minutes for most guests and 90 minutes for penthouse stateroom guests. After you figure in the downtime wasted loading websites, unblocking pop-ups, and receiving mail, I could not handle as many emails as I needed in an expedient manner.
Sometimes, the traffic was so heavy I could not send an email through my client server and had to switch to webmail. Thank goodness I could rely on the Elizabeth Weintraub Team for support, much as I prefer to do everything myself.
Some of us still work and carry on business aboard a cruise ship, even while on vacation. All the luxury hotels have done away with limiting internet, and you’d think the cruise ships would follow suit. Well, the ships will conform eventually. I would not return to a Crystal Symphony cruise until it does.
Incredible Tale of Trust at Kings Shops in Waikoloa
Hitachi tree on golf course on the water by Kings’ Shops in Waikoloa
I did not start out yesterday intending to end up at the Kings Shops in Waikoloa. The day began as an adventure, in a totally different direction. There is nothing like a good adventure, exploring new space systems. In fact, one of the reasons that selling real estate has held its appeal with me over the past 40-some years is because I love adventure, and no two days are ever alike in the real estate business.
For lack of anything else to do, I turned on my Ingress program on my iPad and noted, whoa, there were a bunch of uncaptured portals all clustered together around the back side of the resort. To reach the 12th Level in Ingress, I need one more gold medal, which could be achieved if I capture another 80 or so portals, bringing my total to 1,000 captured portals. What the hey! I followed the shortest path to the portals and found myself navigating the employee entrance.
The mountain side was bathed in clouds, fading off in the distance, like it was another country, looming above miles of turned over lava chunks. Mongooses scooted. Silence. No cars, no people, just fields of lava. Dried weeds. Hot sun. A good place to bury a body. Then suddenly, I was back in civilization, paved parking lot, lots of vehicles and up the hill barriers of vegetation. I found an opening through the flowers and emerged on a public street, right there at the Kings Shops in Waikoloa.
Be still my heart. Coach. Tiffany. Na Hoku, Michael Kors, Maui Divers and more. Shop after shop. My holiday shopping was not yet completed, not to mention I had not bought myself any present this year for Christmas, unless you count my 3 week wor-cation on Big Island. I love buying gifts for people, especially for my team and transaction coordinator, who are like precious gifts from heaven to me. They make it possible for me to get away and take trips. I rarely go shopping in Sacramento, so I don’t spend much.
Kohala Coast Fine Art sells artwork and hand-crafted jewelry at Kings Shops
Hello, Kohala Coast Fine Art. After much discussion with the clerk, selected a handful of beautiful items as gifts and threw in a couple of pieces of jewelry for myself. This is when I discovered that I did not bring much cash nor a credit card because I had not planned on shopping. A lonely $20 bill in my wristlet and no identification. I continued chatting like nothing was unusual, and the clerk rang up the total. When she asked for my VISA, I had to come clean that I did not have a credit card with me. However, I do know the number, the expiration date and the secret code because, like I mentioned earlier, I live in Sacramento. My stores are primarily online.
Blown away — she rang up my purchases and handed over the bag. This is when I couldn’t help my astonishment and questioned her: hey, I don’t want to call undue attention to this, but I don’t have any identification. I don’t have a credit card. Why are you trusting me to walk out with all of this merchandise when I could be a con artist, a professional thief? She said I don’t look like a thief. Hey, I’m exactly what a thief would look like, somebody you don’t expect to be a thief!
Multi-million waterfront homes on golf course across from Kings Shops in Waikoloa
By now it was lunch time. There were more stores at Kings Shops in Waikoloa to visit, but my stomach was growling. I did not have enough cash for lunch. I also did not want to walk back to the hotel. Instead, I entered Three Fat Pigs. Spied a BLT on sourdough for $14. Lots of house sparrows pecked about on the ground as the waiter seated me outside. A beautiful yellow bird landed in the tree and eyed me suspiciously. This is a restaurant on a private lake, with multi-million homes across the water and a rolling golf course.
“How much is a diet Coke?” I asked. The answer: $4.00. Oh! My eyes glanced down at the menu and then back up at the server. “I only asked because all I have is $20 and I want to make sure I have enough to leave a good tip,” I said. I did not think they would take a credit card charge from me without my credit card.
The server said he would not charge me for a diet Coke, and brought me a tall glass of coke with a maraschino cherry! How lucky is that! I mean, what were the odds? The server took pity on me. This made my day. I was so excited that after lunch I went to Coach and blew a wad on more gifts. I even bought my husband a Hanukkah present, which had to be ordered and when it arrives, the sales clerk will bring it to my hotel room.
All in all, I bought merchandise at four stores at Kings Shops in Waikoloa, spent thousands and nobody asked for identification nor required my credit card. Isn’t that incredible in this day and age?
I think my sister Margie is right. I do have a guardian angel who follows me around and takes care of me. People do want to do nice things for me without much effort on my part. I’m just really lucky, I guess, and very fortunate. Or, at least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
The Cats of Waikoloa Canoe Club at Anaeho’omalu Bay
Cat haven for cats at Waikoloa Canoe Club
One of the good things that can come from wandering about with my iPad to search for Ingress portals at foreign places in the world is the discovery of new things I might not otherwise find like the cats of Waikoloa Canoe Club at Anaeho’omalu Bay. If you ask Jenny, my housekeeper at the Marriott, she doesn’t much care for the cats of Waikoloa Canoe Club because they jump on her car in the parking lot and leave little kitty footprints all over her windshield.
The cats of Waikoloa Canoe Club are not to be fed, according to the sign: Do Not Feed Cats, yet there is a raised wooden platform with tin plates and bowls filled with water. Some kind people are caring for these cats. They are nestled down the hill and in the trees, difficult to see from the road. A meandering sprinkler hose waters the vegetation around the clearing. The cats are aloof and keep their distance, although a few don’t seem to care that I’m there hovering and shoving an iPad in their faces at all.
Jenny drives to the Marriott from a town about 25 miles south of Hilo. Taking the saddleback road, it’s an hour and 45 minutes each way. There is a bus that transports workers, but it used to be free, back when Jenny started at the Marriott some 8 years ago. Then the fare imposed later was $1.00 each way and now it’s been raised to $2.00 each way. Jenny saves money, she says, by driving with her boyfriend, who is in construction.
It’s cheaper to live on the Hilo side than the Kona side. Still, that’s a long way to drive for work, bus or no bus. I think about that when I leave her a $2.00 tip every day. Perhaps I should be more generous, but I’ve already established a pattern. Yet, her birthday is this week, so that gives me an excuse to help. There is decorum. Below are more photos of the cats of Waikoloa Canoe Club.
Cat haven nestled in the tree clearing at Waikoloa Canoe Club
Green eyed cat with a clipped ear (shows alteration) at Waikoloa Canoe Club Cat Haven
Cat at Waikoloa Canoe Club resting in a sunny spot.
Cat in the shade at Waikoloa Canoe Club
