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A Solution to the War Between Two Short Sale Banks
You’ve got life easy if you’ve never had to talk to short sale banks. Be thankful for that. Man, I used to see myself as a person with little patience. That’s one of the reasons why I tried back in my 20’s to learn how to sew. I was under the impression that sewing a dress would teach me patience. You know, you’ve got to trace the pattern on the cloth, carefully cut it out and figure out how to attach the pieces without sewing them inside out or upside down.
My dress ended up in the trash can. It wasn’t disappointing to me. It was satisfaction.
However, over the years, I seem to have acquired patience. I have no idea where it came from. One day it wasn’t there and the next it was. I toyed with the thought that it’s possible aliens have taken over my mind or maybe the 1960s had some sort of long-lasting effects like those flashbacks that never materialized. Hard to say, but patience is absolutely required if a Sacramento real estate agent needs to negotiate a short sale.
The latest irritation that popped up this year, part of the aftermath from passing the Homeowner Bill of Rights, is when the first lender and the second lender refuse to see eye-to-eye about issuing short sale approval. I’m not issuing approval first, says the first lender, arms folded, you issue it. So, we try to reason with the second lender. I’m not issuing approval first, says the second lender, let the first lender go first. What reminds me of being back in grade school has been going on all year long. It’s enough to make an agent with less patience smack ’em.
I understand the reasoning. If the second issues approval, it shows the hand of how much it will accept from the first. Some second lenders would rather let the first make an offer of compensation. On the other hand, if the first issues approval, not only does it set the stage for compensation to the second, because it does not want to revise the approval, but it is also obligated to stop all foreclosure action. Yeah, that’s the real reason. Now the first can’t move forward with foreclosure, especially if it can’t come to an agreement on compensation to the second.
Short sale approval is the only part of the Homeowner Bill of Rights that protects a seller in the event of a short sale. Applying for a short sale offers zero protection, none. Protection is afforded only after the short sale approval.
One solution to get around this stalemate is to have one of the lenders issue approval for a short time period. The letter can contain a short expiration date, like 7 days to 10 days out. And, that’s exactly what happened in a West Sacramento short sale today.
There are always ways around a problem. If you’re looking for a patient Sacramento real estate agent who finds solutions, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916 233 6759.
Review of the Happy Together Tour at the Crest
What was it Flo and Eddy said last night at the Happy Together Tour at the Crest? Oh, yeah, drugs, man. How everybody in the audience can identify with the pot and the LDS trips, and now we’re all into: the Lipitor and Pepcin and Ibuprofin and Viagra. And then there was Mark Lindsay (from Paul Revere and the Raiders) who rattled on about wishing for the 1960s night after night and year after year only to wake up one morning and realize he had found the ’60s all right — his own 60s. But ya gotta give it to a guy who has not an inch of fat on his face, be it natural or otherwise, and can kick his leg over his head or drop at the waist in a bow to tuck his head into his crotch. Yeah, like he was made out of cardboard and could fold in two.
Show off.
Pfffbbbt.
He also gave the greatest pitch for a CD I’ve ever heard in my life. It was about curing all of your ails and increasing your sexual performance in the bedroom. Go … Mark!
When Gary Lewis (of Gary Lewis and the Playboys) opened, he identified the years when each of his songs were popular. I got a huge kick out of This Diamond Ring, which came out in 1965, singing along and bouncing, when my husband elbowed me and whispered: TWO, I was TWO and still eating strained baby food! But I can forgive him for that comment because guess who will be wheeling me around in my wheelchair down the road?
The show was a rockin’ good time, though. Can’t say much about Gary Puckett and his Las Vegas act. I don’t know what it is I have against Las Vegas acts, I mean, old performers have to go somewhere, but he was a bit too Holiday Innish for me. The Three Dog Night dude was great and a bit closer, my husband admitted, to his era. I loved the Turtles’ songs by Flo and Eddy. I forgot how much fun they could be, but that’s what almost 40 years will do to you — skew your memory.
Going to the Happy Together Tour show at the Crest, however, meant I was still up two hours past my bedtime. Although, even when I was 21, I was never one of those people who could party all night and still get up for work. Hey, that doesn’t mean I didn’t go to work. It means I just didn’t party on a school night.
But today is Sunday, and I will mostly likely spend most of this day color correcting photographs, tweaking, resizing and selecting the best pictures to put into MLS when my listings hit tomorrow. Little is worse for a buyer than to stare at dark, horrid photos in MLS. When home buyers spot photos like that, they have a license to flip right past the listing, and I’d be mortified if they ever did that to my listing.
That’s why I use a big ol’ honkin’ Nikon digital camera with an expensive 18 / 24 wide-angle lens and still spend hours fixing my photographs. As a Sacramento real estate agent, my clients can rely on my photographs to get a buyer into the house. You can bet my professional ability on it. Right after I take an after-breakfast nap.
July 4th Weekend is Blazing Hot for a Sacramento Real Estate Agent
Blame it on the weather. It’s been so hot in Sacramento this week — temps over 100 degrees — that people have reluctantly chosen to sit under a ceiling fan or inside an air-conditioned space, over venturing out into the city to do one’s usual activities. As such, perhaps the July 4th weekend of lying on the sofa, wiping perspiration from one’s brow and contemplating the ceiling is what has generated such an influx of calls to Sacramento real estate agents.
It’s as though the thought might have suddenly dawned on potential sellers that hey, we have a home to sell and, it’s not on the market or, it’s on the market and it’s not selling, time to find a new agent. Because I don’t know what else could have stirred up this sudden and intense listing activity.
Ordinarily, right around the July 4th weekend, business slows down. People go out of town. They visit with relatives — stuff their faces with potato salad and hot dogs — or they go shopping, whatever, they’re not calling real estate agents. But this 4th of July has been anything but quiet. Heck, usually I go out of town for the 4th of July but since I celebrated my 61st birthday in Sausalito last weekend, I figured I can’t be gone two weekends in a row. My phone didn’t ring much last weekend, and even my email was relatively quiet, given the 300 or so emails I receive every day. Email is the bane of my existence but, as a Sacramento real estate agent, it’s necessary.
I can handle the extra business, though. Last year, there were times my inventory consisted of 70+ homes. I had to buy a whole bunch of extra lockboxes. That influx of business caused me to be even more organized and to develop more systems to efficiently manage my operations.
People often think that selling real estate is all about sales. To be really successful, one must think like a small business owner; and it’s a different mindset that is combined with a strong sales ability. I’ve got 3 wonderful agents who support me as my team members, and their livelihood is in my business plan as well. Together, we operate like a well-oiled machine. Focus.
Which allows for the occasional hiccup flow of unexpected business. I don’t want any client to wonder if I’m too busy for them because I will make the time; I treat every client like they are the only client I have. You know why? Because if I don’t, someday they could be the only client I have, and that would be a sorry state of affairs for this Sacramento real estate agent.
Look for a bunch of new listings from this real estate agent on Monday. If you need to buy a home in the four-county area of Sacramento and are having a tough time, call Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759. We’ll put you into a home.
Reporting for Jury Duty in Downtown Sacramento
My husband cannot figure out how I got to be the age of 61 and never called in for jury duty. I don’t know, either. I’m a registered voter. But today, that lucky streak is over. I am called to report to Superior Court in downtown Sacramento at the bright and early hour of 8 AM. I had asked for an exemption because I am the sole breadwinner for my family, and I am self-employed. To serve on a jury for any extended period of time would be a hardship, but I guess I made the mistake of mentioning that I am a Sacramento real estate agent, because my excuse was denied. It’s fun to be part of a profession that is despised by so many by mistake.
Serving on a jury has me freaked out. My husband, an unemployed journalist who used to cover the court many years ago in Chicago, gave me a practice run down, so I’d know what to expect. Shot a series of questions at me. Scary stuff like: “Have you ever committed a felony?” Whoa. I don’t know. Have I? I suppose I could have somewhere in my past, let me think. You know, I was a teenager in the 1960s. What exactly constitutes a felony?
He accused me of being obstructive and obtuse. I was being completely serious. I don’t know if I would make a good jury person. They say things like you must know whether a defendant is guilty beyond all reasonable doubt. I can always find reasonable doubt. Well, except for maybe O. J. Simpson. Good thing I wasn’t on that jury because we’d still be in deadlock, or whatever.
Sometimes, you can just look at a person and know they are guilty. Know what I mean? I can look at photos of people who are now dead in the death notices in the newspaper, and I can tell if they were nice people or total jerks. It’s in the photos, their eyes, the way they hold their mouth; I can sense the sincerity of the smile, the wrinkle above the eyebrow, and let’s not even get started talking about hairstyles.
I will be asked to set aside my thoughts, not to analyze, no prejudging and to base a decision based solely on the facts presented by opposing sides who are trying to twist the law into their own favor, and I really don’t know if I can do it. I hope that doesn’t make me a bad person.
The Point Bonita Lighthouse is 2 Hours From Sacramento
There is no escaping the extreme heat in Sacramento unless one leaves town. All this week, the forecast is for temperatures above 100 degrees. Granted, it’s a dry heat, but it’s still blazing hot all the same. That’s why it was so enjoyable yesterday on our way back to Sacramento after a lovely weekend in Sausalito to take a detour and discover a hidden gem: the Point Bonita Lighthouse in the Marin Headlands.
Imagine the cool wind blowing across your face and through your hair. Imagine not thinking about what goes down must come back up. Imagine the trail, which is almost a straight shot down to the newly restored bridge that leads to the lighthouse, after it winds a path through a hand-dug tunnel covered in algae. It doesn’t seem like the 1/2 mile, which the National Park Service says it is, yet you know in your head, your aching feet and panting lungs coming back up the hill that it is almost twice that distance. If you were standing, say, a 1/2 mile away from the Lighthouse when you measured the distance, it would be a 1/2 mile, but it is NOT a 1/2 mile from the parking area. It never is.
I suggested to my scoffing husband that he count his steps. All 5,280 of them. Because a 1/4 mile is 3 city blocks. A 1/2 mile is 6 city blocks. If each block is 40-feet wide, and a city block contained about 10 houses, that would equal 400 feet 
of distance, because 10 houses x 40 feet is 400 feet per city block. You take 400 feet x 6 blocks and that equals 2400 feet or just under 1/2 of a mile. I didn’t walk by 60 houses to get to that lighthouse. No sirree, it was more than 100 houses. And I know my houses because I am a Sacrament real estate agent.
But today I would give anything to be sitting on the deck at the Point Bonita Lighthouse. Gazing at rocks dotted with sleeping sea lions and at the city of San Francisco, wrapped, no doubt, in fog.
Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub
