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Why Elizabeth Weintraub Writes a Sacramento Real Estate Blog
Elizabeth Weintraub writes a daily Sacramento real estate blog.
When I share the fact that I’ve been writing a Sacramento real estate blog every day for going on 12 years now, it shocks people. They cannot believe that I would do it. Every day, I write a blog. Why? Because I believe I have something to say. Further, I’m opinionated as all hell. You ask me what I think and I’ll tell you. I might volunteer if you don’t ask. I have a ton of opinions. Who are those people who answer surveys without an opinion? When it’s yes, no, or I don’t know, they choose I don’t know. Why is that?
Some agents tell me they can’t write a Sacramento real estate blog because they don’t know what to write. I write about what I do. For better or worse, I work every day. Stuff happens every day. There are ways to talk about the inner workings of real estate transactions without disclosing confidential information. Even after 43 years in the business, I still learn stuff I didn’t know. How can an agent have nothing to write about?
Of course, my Sacramento real estate blog is not always about real estate. It could be political, especially in today’s world, lots of shit there. Odds are it could be extremely personal about myself. On the other hand, my blog could be about exotic places I travel, a restaurant, a movie, a musical, a concert, life, death, love, happiness, sorrow or, like most of my posts from my house in Hawaii, it might feature a gecko. I write whatever I want because it’s my freakin’ blog. There is really nothing off limits except anything that could potentially upset a client. I would never do that. I will upset other people. In a heartbeat. Just not my clients.
Finding inspiration for my blog comes from what happens during the day. For example, it rained all day yesterday in Hawaii on the Big Island. But I was happy as a clam out on my lanai, working, occasionally glancing up at the fog creeping across the ocean. I put another listing into escrow, third time is a charm. Too many flakey buyers out there right now. We’ve had two cancellations on this listing already and for no reason. Put it back in MLS to reset the days on market and bam, sold.
Knock, knock. My scheduled quarterly pest control company showed up at the door to ask if I wanted them to spray the exterior of the premises. Hmmm . . . it was raining. Seemed like a waste of money to give them the go-ahead. “It’s mostly under the eaves,” the worker offered. Spoken like a worker who doesn’t want to reschedule. Like rain water doesn’t hit the house and travel. I think a drier day is better.
About Buyers Who Suddenly Cancel Escrow
Then, earlier in the week, I talked with an agent who said her buyers want to submit an offer on a listing. I asked if it was possible for her to have a long conversation with the prospective buyers, to inquire if they really and truly intend to buy a home. Because I’m increasingly growing tired of buyers who say they do and then change their minds.
I hate what a cancellation does to my sellers. It tears them apart. I’m not that concerned if I have to sell a home twice or three times and get paid once because I’ll eventually get paid. I’ll sell it again. My listings all close. I’m loyal to my clients. But watching my sellers’ world turn upside down because some idiot buyer walked away, though, that’s what I find most bothersome.
I’m wondering now if that agent took my advice and talked to her buyers because I don’t have an offer from her. Ha, ha.
Oh, well, checked on my closings, and two escrows are rolling into January. Even with those gone from my production, I’ve still got $37 million closing this year. Best year ever. It just keeps getting better. And that’s why I just keep writing my Sacramento real estate blog. It brings business. It saves my sanity.
About Being a Sacramento REALTOR First
This Sacramento Realtor receives a lot of unsolicited mail at the office.
Because I write a daily Sacramento real estate blog, which often contains consumer awareness information, exposes criminal wrong doings, real estate scams and the slippery slope of masked intentions behind the ways some companies try to take advantage of Realtors, I seem to have built a fan base across the country as a compassionate Sacramento REALTOR who leads a double life as a consumer advocate. This means people send unsolicited letters and packages through the U.S. mail to my office, sometimes anonymously, like I’m going to take issue with other evil doings and write about it.
First and foremost, my job in Sacramento is that of a Sacramento REALTOR. I list homes and sell those homes, and my Elizabeth Weintraub team member agents show homes. We hold open houses. We network with other California agents, employ extensive marketing, hire at our expense professional photographers, consistently create new techniques to sell Sacramento real estate and, well, the list goes on and on. The point is I am a Sacramento REALTOR first. A writer second. And, although I am paid to write content about homebuying for About.com, that is not my primary occupation and my writing is not pro bono work.
Some of the stuff I receive in the mail is interesting but that’s about as far as it goes. To write about any of it, I would need to be fair, to call the offender to report that side of the situation and, frankly, I’m not about to do it. So please stop mailing me stuff, well, unless it’s Kistler chardonnay. I will accept any free contributions of Kistler Vineyards chardonnay to our wine collection that anybody would like to send for nothing in return.
Besides, I have enough of my own crazy stuff to discuss. Like next month I plan to write about a wild scheme I discovered going on right here in my own back yard, perpetrated by one of those individual brokerages; like if I’m gonna find a problem with an agent, that might be the place to look, at the guys who are unsupervised, versus the larger brokerages, which routinely update agents about real estate law and procedures. If you think I am unfairly pointing to the one or two-person operations as problematic, I can tell you I used to work in those ranks, so I know first hand. Further, full disclosure, not every single mom-and-pop shop is that way.
When I started in real estate in the 1970s — yes, that’s not a typo — I worked for almost 9 years at my own company, which I immediately bought after obtaining my own broker’s license from the broker, an electrician by trade, IIRC. I erroneously believed that holding a real estate broker’s license meant I could do just about anything my mind could conceive. That real estate practice, looking back, often bordered on practicing law. I’m lucky I emerged a better agent from that period, to say nothing of the fashion, egads, those shoulder pads and hairstyles . . .
About Writing a Real Estate Blog
The oddest thing I have discovered is that some people, and I won’t tell you who they are, binge-read my Sacramento real estate blog. They start by reading about a certain topic, must develop a curiosity about the forward and backward buttons, so they start clicking and they don’t stop. It becomes a marathon. A real estate blog reading marathon. Now, I have a hard time believing that any individual can be so interested in the inner workings of my twisted nature or that anybody could possess a sincere desire to learn more about how to prepare a home for sale that a person would devote so much time to my dribble, but it doesn’t mean they don’t do it.
Funny thing is I have had people tell me they have had no interest whatsoever in something I had to say but couldn’t stop reading my real estate blog. I’m left to conclude they must find stuff I say amusing, or maybe I lead such a weird life, so completely different from their own that they like to view from the outside what goes on in somebody else’s life. Kinda like watching Reality TV, probably, without the coaching and do-overs and horrible people.
I’ve appeared on several TV shows in my life, and they are not as interesting to do as you might think. There is a lot of sitting around and a lot of Take 2, Take 3, Take 4, Take 5 and they keep doing it. That fresh, energetic explosion needs to be replicated over and over, and that’s really difficult to be spontaneous on demand. You have to think to yourself, what was I thinking about, what was my motivation, why did I do that? And then try to do it again, but it comes across as insincere and limp. Or, it does for me.
Which is probably why I will never make it as an actor. I’m a little old for that now anyway. Although I always did want my own home improvement TV show. A do-it-yourself TV show for women who use power tools. That idea had alway been simmering in the back of my mind, but then I got swept up and carried away in Sacramento real estate, and I’ve never looked back. I don’t want to be a celebrity anyway.
I intensely dislike doing seminars, too. Because when you’re on stage and you stop speaking, there is silence in the room. You’ve got to always be thinking about the next thing you’re going say, and that’s way too much work. I prefer dialogue to monologue. It reminds me of the van driver who transports tourists in Maui along The Road to Hana. This guy must talk non-stop for 8 hours straight. It has to be funny, engaging and interesting banter. Not only that, but he has to repeat it day after day, week after week and month after month. The same conversation every single day. That’s worse than having to eat Ralston Cereal for breakfast every day until you die.
Bottom line I can’t sing, either; I can’t act, I can’t draw anything but stick people and I can’t tap dance. I really possess zero artistic abilities except an eye for beauty and a desire to write. The next best thing is selling Sacramento real estate and writing a real estate blog.
For Whom Does This Sacramento Real Estate Agent Blog?
Blogging is not the same thing as journalism. I mean, you know that, and I know that, but a few years from now, none of the young ‘uns will know it. There are people today who think online is the only place to get their news. They wouldn’t dream of unfolding newsprint from the front porch. Still, that doesn’t stop people from writing and asking me to write in-depth pieces that suit their own purposes, all in the name of public information, mind you.
They preface it with because I have so many readers, it is my civic duty to inform. I could have a lot of readers if I decided to tag the public sidewalk. Doesn’t mean a tagger should be delivering messages from public or private servants. A tagger’s work is self expression, much like blogging.
I write a blog because I write; because my computer is on my desk. It’s where I sit. Hopefully, I have something to say about real estate that’s not boring or stupid. Moreover, I hope that a client will read what I have to say and think we might be a good match to work together, but I also hope other types of clients will read what I have to say and leave me alone. That’s why I’m never afraid to say exactly what I think.
Just ask my husband; I offend him all the time. I asked for his help with an ad over the weekend. Given the changed real estate market, I decided it was a good idea to address the present day market. He fed me a line and asked me what I thought. I told him it wouldn’t work because it was stupid. This is not something I would say to a client, mind you. I would not tell a client if I thought her idea was stupid. I would use a different word. Like, impossible. Or, wait, how about inconceivable? Like that guy used in the Princess Bride!
Doesn’t matter because he stomped off and told me to do it myself. But the thing is his idea was kind of Donald Duck stupid on several levels. It just wouldn’t work. It was confusing, and it didn’t really address the point I wanted to make. Yet, my husband continues to try to help me when I need it. I tell you, he’s a saint. He also knows my heart is in the right place. Inside my body where it’s supposed to be, and not in a box stored in a vault waiting for some witch to crush the life out of it.
I have a new listing that came on the market today. It’s a gorgeous brick home in Curtis Park. Four bedrooms, 2 baths and over 1700 square feet. Updated kitchen. Spacious master suite. Hardwood floors, leaded glass, plus a 2-car garage. All for $369,000. Give this Sacramento real estate agent a ring at 916 233 6759, and I’ll get you a private showing before the open house on Sunday. Just don’t ask me to blog about your real estate cause because I’m trying to keep up with my own.
