sacramento realtor
Mid Century Home in South Land Park Estates for Sale
To give you an idea of the beauty of this home in South Land Park Estates: it’s the type of home that even if you weren’t thinking about selling your home and moving, you might consider buying this home. Not only is this home a mid-century home, but it was built by the modernist architect Yamasaki. This home has been in the family for decades. As such, it is simply impeccable. Very well maintained.
The neighborhood is South Land Park Estates, and the home sits about two blocks from William Land Park. It is almost kitty corner from the Sacramento Zoo, tucked away and sequestered near Capri and Sutterville. Sometimes at night, if you open the windows on a hot summer day, you might hear the distant sounds of lions roaring, the trumping of elephants and monkeys chattering in a quiet evening breeze.
I was surprised to note nary a crack in any of the plaster walls or ceilings and the home was recently painted a more neutral taupe. The trustees of the family trust uncovered the carpeted hardwood floors, which are simply brilliant. You’ll find Roman brick is used in the design of the living room fireplace and part of the exterior. They don’t make homes of this quality anymore, and the exquisite workmanship is evident in this home in South Land Park Estates.
As a busy Sacramento Realtor, I can tell you that it’s rare to find such a desirable home on the market in an affordable price range.
Viewing this home in South Land Park Estates will make you feel like you’re stepping back in time. It’s almost as though this 1956 house was recently constructed and never lived in. You know the previous owners must have baked Thanksgiving turkeys in the built-in GE oven in the kitchen, but it looks brand new. There is an electric cooktop built into the tiled counter top. The cabinets are tall and deep, made from gleaming wood and bearing shiny original hardware.
There is a breakfast nook in the kitchen, which is open on both ends. Between the kitchen and family room is a built-in bar, near a wall of cabinets in the family room, plus a separate laundry room. I dearly adore the pristine linoleum floor, it’s sort of a gray with specks of blue, red, green and yellow. It, too, looks newer. Both of the baths feature period peach and green tile in original condition. They sparkle.
For purists who truly love mid-century homes, this is an unbelievable find. Three large bedrooms, two full baths, additional storage, and a nice sized yard with fruit trees. According to the Sacramento County Assessor, it measures 1,870 square feet. Come to our open house on Sunday, April 2nd, from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. Virtual tour.
1407 Carrousel Lane, Sacramento, CA 95822, is offered exclusively by Elizabeth Weintraub at Lyon Real Estate, at $545K. For more information, call Elizabeth at 916.233.6759.
See more photos below:
Tips for Selling a Home as a Successor Trustee Under a Trust
It seems like lately I’ve been working with sellers who are selling a home as a successor trustee under a trust. I’d venture to guess that perhaps 30% of my transactions are for sellers who are successor trustees. A successor trustee is an individual named to manage the trust in the event of a death or an inability of the existing trustee to handle the affairs. Apart from the legal end of title, the sale itself is fairly similar to selling anything else, although generally the successor trustee is exempt from certain seller disclosures.
What I have found in working with sellers who are selling real estate as a successor trustee is they are often under a bit of stress and duress. The home might be a family home where parents once lived or maybe even where the successor trustee grew up. It’s bad enough to be grieving and dealing with your own personal issues after a person you love dies, nobody really welcomes the additional stress they think selling a house will cause.
As their Sacramento Realtor, I try to be sensitive to the attachments and emotions of successor trustees. Not only do they need to deal with selling the house as a successor trustee, but often there are beneficiaries of the trust and distributions of assets that can cause all holy hell to break out. People sometimes get very weird dealing with a death in the family, and there is a side that can rear its ugly head when there are emotions and money involved.
I’m not gonna get into all of the infighting I have witnessed over the years with family members struggling for control and ownership, suffice to say it exists and it’s common. I just try to keep the peace between all parties the best I can. One aspect many people don’t realize is they can’t list a property subject to a successor trustee or sign a contract with a power of attorney. They must sign as the successor trustee.
I also ask for a copy of the trust so I can send it to escrow to determine if we have all of the documents that are required. Sometimes there are pages missing or it is unreadable. More often than not, the affidavit of death is missing and needs to be recorded. It’s a good idea to take care of all of those small details before going into escrow to keep the transaction running smoothly for the successor trustee and heirs.
There are plenty of other things for heirs to argue over. They don’t need to be involved in the technical details and we don’t need problems popping up just before closing. A wiser solution is to handle them in advance. If you’re thinking about selling a home as a successor trustee, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
Sacramento Duplex Sold in Four Days With 10 Offers
The sellers of a Sacramento duplex were referred to me by a previous client. With the exception of my internet marketing, all my other clients tend to come from referrals, but that’s what happens when a Sacramento Realtor has worked in the business for 40-some years. Veteran agents (who are also top producers) are not out there in the dirt, scratching for business. I thank my lucky stars every day for that.
The sellers are simply delightful people, and I truly enjoyed selling this duplex for them. When we met to discuss price, they thought my suggested listing price was too high. They had done a bit of research and were prepared to sell for much less. See, you can’t get values online. This is one of the main reasons to hire a good Sacramento Realtor who will tell you the truth about your sales price with her finger firmly placed on the pulse of the market. I can often predict the sales price that will attract a buyer. What I can’t always predict is exactly how high the bidding will go, but I can surely set the stage for multiple offers.
The first step in listing a Sacramento duplex is to talk with the tenants, meet them face-to-face and have a conversation. Tenants have fears about their home being sold, and it is my job to extract their cooperation while alleviating those fears, and I accomplished that objective. Next is to position the home attractively among the active listings and begin to push for multiple offers in a non-threatening way.
The one thing this Sacramento Realtor does not do is discourage offers nor tell buyer’s agents offers will be “collected,” as that kind of strategy undermines the effort to obtain maximum value. It often eliminates buyers before they become a potential candidate. Offers can be managed in a more practical manner that do not disclose the seller’s intentions.
This wasn’t a huge sales price, either. But it was important to my sellers that we sell the Sacramento duplex for the highest price possible. Their eyes were pretty big when I told them $265,000 would be a good starting point. By the end, we had 10 offers, and it sold at $275,000, with financing. There were no repairs, no concessions, no credits, no home inspection hassles, either, no work completed.
So, yes, I guess sellers can have the best of both worlds. Highest price and a stress-free transaction. If you’re looking to sell a home in Sacramento, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. I’d love to manage that sale for you.
Success Comes by Focusing on the Client, Not Commissions
When agents ask this Sacramento Realtor for advice and I give it to them — like success comes by focusing on the client not on your bank account — they often come back with a bunch of reasons as to why they can’t follow my advice. It usually starts by pointing out they are not me, they are a different person. If they didn’t figure that out at the inception of our conversation, I can see where they are having difficulties because, like it or not, we are all different people. How much fun would it be if we were all alike, like Donald Trump, for example? Would you want to see a bunch of Donald Trumps running loose in the street, no, you would not. In fact, that would be called a nightmare of enormous proportions.
When agents start out in real estate, they know success comes by focusing on the client, but they can find it very difficult to conduct business that way. There are often financial pressures. It takes a while to learn the business, find a client and get into escrow. At that point, it can become an internal struggle, even among the most ethical and honest agents. They might feel torn between doing the right thing or making sure the escrow closes so they can get paid.
It might not even be a conscious thing. I’m not saying agents are evil and only thinking about themselves, far from it. It’s human nature. Agents need to make a living. Pay a mortgage, make a car payment, maybe support a family. They can’t do that if every transaction cancels, blows up or falls apart. It can be agony. Some agents decide they can’t be in sales due to these types of conflicts the business can present, so they go back to safety of the 9 to 5 grind.
I decided early in my career that I did not want to face conflicts like that. I did not want find myself in the position of being forced to choose between putting bread on the table or doing a good job for my clients. The only way I found to get around that dilemma was to make sure if a client expressed a desire to cancel a contract, for example, because it was best for the client, that I would acquiesce without trying to talk them out of it. Because I am not motivated by money and I never want to be. I purposely made that leap to believing that success comes by focusing on the client.
It was a leap because I harbored initial hesitation. Well, you just have to get over that. With great conviction, I soldiered forward, repeating that mantra over and over: success comes by focusing on the client. It became true for me. My reality. I shot my sales into the stratosphere. And the best part is I feel good about the service I provide and derive great joy by hearing how happy my clients are with my performance. There is never a doubt in their minds whose best interests I serve. And if that isn’t a good enough reason to turn around a real estate practice to really serve your clients, I don’t know what is.
Listing Homes in Sacramento is All About Appraised Value Right Now
Many sellers are holding back listing homes in Sacramento right now for a huge variety of reasons, some valid and some not. For at least one seller, the sales price is an issue. That seller bought in 2005, so while she is not underwater, she won’t recoup her investment and can’t sell at the price she bought. This is a tough concept for some sellers to understand. They see sales prices going up and buyers lining up at open houses, and wonder why they can’t get their sales price.
The problem is we have not recovered, our economy has not bounced back to 2005 levels. We just aren’t there. We are barely covering the sales prices from 2008, and are not near the high price levels of 2005. We probably won’t be at that price point for a long time. You remember those times, right? It wasn’t that long ago that people could buy a house, move into it, decide the place doesn’t fit right anymore, sell it, make a bundle of money and go buy something else, all in the course of a summer.
I don’t think we even WANT to go back to those times. But try explaining to a seller that her house is not worth what she paid for it. Those are fighting’ words to some sellers. Because obviously we real estate agents are all in cahoots with the devil and don’t want our sellers to make any money . . . NOT.
Believe me, it’s a sad tale to tell but tell it we must. It’s reality. It’s what is happening. At least if a person is not underwater and has equity, that person should count her lucky stars.
On the other side of the situation, when listing homes in Sacramento, it makes sense to figure out how much a buyer will pay. The amount a buyer will pay might not be the appraised value and, in many instances lately, it is certainly not the appraised value. The appraised value is less than the sales price. Of course, if the offer is cash, we don’t have no stinkin’ appraisal to deal with.
I tell my sellers we need to position ourselves attractively in the market place, make sure we have the best spot, and we can’t be priced too low. Multiple offers will push up the price. I like to list a bit on the high side, just so buyers won’t go all that crazy, but they still do. We just need that one buyer who will pay top dollar and love the home.
I just wish more sellers were open to listing homes in Sacramento right now and not waiting for April or May. We have the buyers. We have the low interest rates. We have the ability to sell at top of market. Setting the sales price is the least of our worries. Getting the appraisal to come in at the sales price is the real challenge.
If you’re looking for a top Sacramento Realtor who is up to the challenge, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 40 years of experience to work for you. Listen to this, in all of Sacramento County, we have only 1,347 single family homes for sale, and 1,451 pending sales getting ready to close. In the hey day of 2005, we had more than 10,000.