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The Last of the Produce From Our Land Park Garden
Tomatoes and giant cucumber from our Land Park garden in Sacramento.
One of the nicest things about living in California and growing a Land Park garden in Sacramento is the fact we enjoy an extended harvest. We can plant our veggies earlier than other parts of the country and continue to cultivate produce from early spring long into October. Although, I must say I was bit astonished when I dug around where the cucumber vines were all lumped together. There, nestled in the dirt, was a humongous cucumber we somehow overlooked.
My husband, being the kind of guy he is, with a waste-not-want-not type of attitude, says, hey, we can still eat it. Just scoop out the seeds. No, he can still eat it but I’m not chowing down on an oversized tasteless cucumber that’s been sitting in the dirt for months. I will eat escamoles (ant larva) but no months-old cucumbers for me.
Look at all those tomatoes from our Land Park garden. We’ve got Juliet tomatoes, a sort of cherry tomato, and I don’t know what the others are except that they are growing all over the garden that the city crew dug up when they installed last month water meters in Land Park. They were very careful not to disturb the tomatoes. I wish they had taken some tomatoes with them.
There is nothing better than a fresh salad for lunch made with home-grown produce. It’s what I typically dine on every single day. And now it is all gone. There is nothing left but spent vines and weeds. Given our hectic schedules, we probably won’t get around to tearing out the garden in its entirety so we can replant until next spring. Although a winter garden is possible to maintain in Sacramento, our Land Park garden is an unlikely candidate. We’d have to find time for it, and I’ll be gone to Hawaii for a few months this winter, working on selling Sacramento real estate from Kona. So it seems kinda pointless.
As you read this, we are on our way home to Land Park from San Francisco. Perhaps I will post photos from our dinner at Saison on Friday night or the Saturday show featuring Greg Dulli and the Afghan Whigs at The Fillmore later on this week. Right after I get caught up on what will happen today at our 5 open houses in Sacramento. In my crazy life, business comes first.
All of My Friends Are in Real Estate or in Jail
Elizabeth Weintraub, Ginny Gorman and Joan Cox at Ella.
All of my friends are in real estate or in jail, I like to say. Of course, I’m only half kidding. To the best of my knowledge, I don’t know of any friends who are in jail. Just about every person in my life is in real estate in some way or another, with the exception of a handful. I have relationships with real estate agents all over the country. I met them like I meet most people nowadays: online. With some people, you just click, and when you share a common passion for real estate, it’s even more interesting.
Above are two of my friends who came to Sacramento on Tuesday on their way to Napa and Monterey. Joan Cox is a real estate broker from Denver. I used to live in Denver, but that’s not really what Joan and I have in common because Denver has changed so much since the 1970s. We both love our careers and much of what we do is familiar, even though we practice in a different state.
When my husband and I flew to Cuba a few years back, we had a stopover in Denver on Christmas Day. It was Joan who drove out to the airport to meet up for brunch. The thing about meeting people online is often they are exactly as they appear online when you meet them in person, and Joan is definitely one of those people. I don’t mind it that all of my friends are in real estate. I find it a benefit. Because real estate makes up such a big part of my life. I basically devote maybe three hours a day to myself, 12 hours to real estate, and I sleep for the rest.
Joan Cox met Ginny Gorman online at the same website where all the real estate agents blog on Active Rain. I met Ginny online but did not realize that she and Joan were fast friends. Joan has been out to Rhode Island to visit Ginny as well. So now the two of them are on vacation in California. I think when people go into this profession, it’s not unusual to only hang around others in the profession, because real estate is all that encompassing.
After introducing Joan and Ginny to our cats, we had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Ella Dining Room. There, sitting right in front of us at Ella was John Shirey, Sacramento’s former city manager. I could tell my husband wanted to say hello, as he knew the guy from Cincinnati. Before my husband was pretty much forced out of journalism and went to work for the state, he had worked the police beat for the Cincinnati Enquirer, which is where he met Mr. Shirey.
My husband would never say all of my friends are in real estate. Most of his friends are in a different occupation all together. But I think my friends are just as interesting. Plus, we refer business to each other. Clients are always asking if we know a good agent just like us in another state. This is a fabulous referral network among friends. Much better than plucking some obscure agent nobody knows. If you need an agent in another state, just ask me. I can probably point you in the right direction. Because all of my friends are in real estate.
Photo above is Sacramento Realtor Elizabeth Weintraub, Denver real estate broker, Joan Cox and Coastal Rhode Island Realtor Ginny Gorman.
Are Cash Offers King in Sacramento Real Estate?
Agents who consider cash offers king in Sacramento might want to reconsider.
A buyer’s agent on Sunday reminded me that he considers cash offers king when he sent over his buyer’s purchase contract to buy a home. He kept repeating himself, just in case I didn’t understand his English. Cash offer, cash offer, all cash offer. Maybe he’s used to dealing with idiots, but he’s not that experienced. I know this because I looked up his sales in MLS, primarily since I did recognize his name nor company. I always like to know who I’m dealing with on behalf of my sellers. These offers come in from left field so often. Those agents never call to introduce themselves, they just shoot the offer over in an email.
Like I tell my sellers, I’m not the kind of Sacramento Realtor who gets all excited when we receive an offer. That’s because I’ve received so many bogus offers, offers from non-committed buyers, offers that blow up prior to opening escrow, offers from crooks, offers from blowhards, and one thing is for certain. Everybody has an agenda of some sort. It’s my job as a top listing agent to find out as much as I can about the other side and relay that information to my clients so the sellers can make an intelligent decision.
My initial reaction is usually what is the angle here? What is going on? Not everybody writes straight forward and clean offers. I look for mistakes, and I usually find them.
The agent who considers cash offers king was a bit taken by surprise when I told him no, cash offers are not always king. For one thing, buyers with cash can buy anything their heart desires, as long as they can agree on price. There are really no restrictions. Therefore, some, not all of them, develop an attitude. It’s not unusual for a cash buyer to try to renegotiate in the middle of escrow for a lower sales price and threaten to take her cash elsewhere. Or, a cash buyer might find another property the buyer likes better while in the midst of home inspections and the buyer will cancel to chase the other house. There is not always a high level of dedication and commitment from the cash buyer.
Further, it’s all cash in the end to the seller anyway. The only difference is the appraisal and loan qualifications, and if the buyer is already prequalified, most of that hurdle is over. If the home is priced right, it will meet appraisal. So, how are cash offers king in Sacramento?
This particular”all-cash buyer” was also not really a cash buyer. He had a portfolio of stocks he needed to sell to obtain the cash. His cash was not liquid. Although the agent said the buyer lived in the area, the buyer was not in the area when he signed the offer. He was in another state. His check reflected an address in that other state. His offer stated he would not live in the property. When I looked at the agent’s sales over the last 18 months, I found only 2 sales. I went one step further and looked at the buyer for those sales, thinking perhaps it was the same buyer. But no, it was the same buyer, just not this buyer; however, the buyer’s home address was the buyer’s agent’s home address.
Sometimes it makes a difference to sellers if the potential buyer will live in the property versus renting it out. This was one of those times. I laid out all of the pros and cons to the seller. The seller chose the buyer from a position of knowledge. This is what I want for all of my clients, and what they deserve. If you are thinking about selling a home in Sacramento, why not call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759, and more 40+ years of experience to work for you?
Buildable Lot in Small Gated Community in Elk Grove
9368 Kaanapali Court, Elk Grove, CA 95624 is over one acre.
This is a rare opportunity to build your dream home in a gated community in Elk Grove. Kapalua Estates is a small subdivision with only a handful of lots, and most of the owners have already built a home. There are utilities to the lot, so you’ve got sewer, electricity and gas. When I looked at the plat map, it shows 343 feet on the north side. The lot is slightly bigger than an acre at 43,569 square feet. It’s situated near Bradshaw and Bond Road, with the entrance to Kapalua from Bradshaw.
I don’t know of any other area where you can build a home in a gated community in Elk Grove. Surprisingly, there is no HOA, either. But there are CC&Rs. Part of the requirements call for building a single-story home no less than 3,500 square feet. We have names and phone numbers of other owners in the subdivision an interested buyer can call for more information on building.
How much would you pay for an acre lot in a gated community in Elk Grove? Especially a location that is desirable and an easy commute into Sacramento? Would you pay half a million? You would? Well, that’s great, because this lot will look like a bargain to you at $295,000. Check out 9368 Kaanapali Court, Elk Grove, CA 95624, offered exclusively by Elizabeth Weintraub and Lyon Real Estate. Call Elizabeth at 916.233.6759 for more information.
Click here to see the Virtual Tour of 9368 Kaanapali Ct.
Portion of the one-acre+ lot at 9368 Kaanapali Ct, Elk Grove, CA 95624
About Buying a Home Before Selling a House in Sacramento
It is very doable to pursue buying a home before selling a house in Sacramento today.
For some lucky sellers, it is definitely possible to pursue buying a home before selling a house in Sacramento. How one goes about this depends on basically two things: the type of real estate market you’re in and your financial ratios. At the moment, we are experiencing a strong seller’s market in Sacramento. This means sellers are in the driver’s seat. We have low inventory and high numbers of buyers. It’s the principle of supply and demand at work.
Sure, we have buyers who say, my house is so beautiful, it will sell right away, so why can’t I look at buying home before selling? As Sacramento Realtors, we have to bring these buyers into reality. Move them outside of their own situation and get them to look at this through the eyes of the seller. I say to them: Ok, pretend YOU are the seller of this house and YOU have 5 offers. Four of those offers are from buyers who don’t have a house a sell, they have no contingencies. They can get a loan and close right away. And then there is YOU. You who have not even put your home on the market, and you who wants the seller to wait while you get around to it.
If you were the seller, whose offer would you take? The buyer who is ready to go into escrow and doesn’t have a house to sell? Or the buyer who has a contingency to sell her home first and doesn’t have an offer yet? Buyers stare at their feet, shuffle toes in circles. They draw their own conclusion: Um, I guess the other buyer’s offer? Right! So, why do you think the seller will want YOUR offer, an offer that could blow up in their faces? I hate to be the bad news messenger, but there it is.
If you’re thinking about buying a home before selling, you’ve got to see this from the other side to understand.
Now, say you’re in escrow already with a buyer on your house. The seller’s listing agent will want to know if that buyer has removed contingencies. Until that happens, there is no solid commitment. If you’re just gone into escrow, the buyer has by contract default 17 days to change her mind. That’s still an iffy proposition to a seller who has offers from buyers without a home to sell.
We’ve been working with quite a few buyers lately who have had homes to sell but decided in this limited inventory market that they might sell their home without finding another home, which they don’t want to do. They don’t want to be homeless. I don’t blame them. So, for them it makes sense to focus on buying a home before selling a house. Conventional wisdom says to do it the other way around, just so you aren’t tempted to dump your old house for peanuts. Contrary, in a strong seller’s market, the risk of that happening is very low to nonexistent. The hard thing is finding another home to buy. You can leave the sale up to your Sacramento Realtor, a listing agent like Elizabeth Weintraub, who concentrates on sellers and maximizing their bottom-line profit.
If you have good credit and the financial means to carry two mortgages at the same time, you can look into buying a home before selling. Bottom line, all sellers need a place to go. That’s the first question I ask people who are selling. Where will you go? Because if you’ve got no place to go, you’ve got no good reason to sell. This way, sellers are assured they will get the home they want by buying that home first.
