Email Elizabethsacramento realtor
A Sacramento Realtor Never Loses That Personal Touch
This Sacramento Realtor offers a personal touch from start to finish.
Sometimes, if you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself, to lend that personal touch. That kind of reasoning can hold you back from obtaining monumental success, however. Because most of the truly successful people in the world who catapult themselves to the top of the money heap rely on somebody else to do the job for them.
They delegate. They choose wisely. They let go and learn how to accept, if necessary, mediocrity. Because nobody is ever gonna do the job the same way as you would. That’s just fact, Jack. Yet, there is no mediocrity in my world; I won’t allow it. My standards are high.
Remember way back when they used to say the most important person at any given company was the receptionist? In some ways it was even true. First point of contact. Impressions formed. But today most of those people have vanished. We have voice mail. Nobody answers their phone. And many executives don’t even have a secretary anymore to rely upon. It’s a miracle anything ever gets done correctly in our isolated, assembly-line and remote-controlled worlds.
Which is why my clients like the fact that some of the more important aspects of real estate still retain a personal touch by their Sacramento Realtor. Every client deserves my individual attention. Yeah, the problem with that kind of attitude is I will never close 1,000 homes a year in Sacramento. In fact, I may never close 300 homes a year. But when you figure most real estate agents close only 3 to 4 homes a year, my present production level tends to blow people away.
I expect to be good at my job. I strive for excellence. My personal touch is involved in every aspect of listing and selling a home. I don’t agree to accept mediocrity, and that’s what passing the buck means when it comes right down to it. Besides, some of us are Type A personalities and we can’t hand over the keys to our business to anybody else. We want to be the driver, sick little puppies that we are. We’re the kind of people who live to plan and carry through our plans.
If you can believe it, I often spend hours pouring over photographs for my listings. I inspect the 20 to 30 angle shots of the pool, hoping to capture the light just right. I considered the close-ups, adjusting the focus on objects in the distance, making sure fence lines are level both horizontally and vertically so it’s pleasing to the eye and not out of balance. I compensated for the shadows and brightened dark areas. I agonized over photos of the front of the home.
Nothing I hate more than having a concrete mess as the main focus of a home. Too many driveways dominate photographs online.
In the end, my goal is thrilled clients. When they’re happy, so am I. Because if your photographs don’t look good online, your home doesn’t look good online, and it’s not in my DNA to let that happen. When you hire Elizabeth Weintraub as your Sacramento Realtor, I personally oversee every aspect of your transaction. You get that personal touch, no matter what. Call 916.233.6759.
When Does a Sacramento Realtor Present Offers?
The answer to when does a listing agent present offers should be as soon as possible.
Real estate agents often ask me: when do you present offers? Oh, I dunno, the third Thursday of every month? I don’t really understand that question. I’m not a lady who does lunch. I’m a Sacramento Realtor who sells an absurd number of homes every year throughout Sacramento. In fact, I resent the term lady since it infers that I am to live up to somebody else’s expectations of how I should behave, and I don’t always feel like being a lady. The business doesn’t always call for it. Life doesn’t always call for it.
Speaking of ladies, my husband and I were discussing First Lady causes during our leisurely walkabout a while back through Midtown Sacramento. How many can you recall? Nancy Reagan ran around saying No a lot. Lady Bird planted flowers. Jackie Kennedy gave us style and china, dishes not the country. Michelle Obama, such a class act. When they go low, we go high. What the heck did Rosalynn Carter advocate?
You know what I would take up as a cause if I were First Lady? Kindness. We need more kindness in the world. And not in a killing them with kindness kinda way. We can be kind without resorting to lady-like behavior.
People have forgotten how to be kind to each other. Or maybe our political environment in this country has beaten people into a pulp to the point that they just don’t care. But we are so rude. We don’t hold doors open for anybody, we run through yellow lights and don’t let anybody pull in front of us, and we scream at our children at the grocery store. Please and thank you are words that rarely escape our lips.
The world doesn’t revolve around us. Nobody cares what we’re texting, heads stooped, as we walk into light poles or out in front of traffic without looking. I’ve got news for ya: Twitter doesn’t rule. People can be so self centered. What would happen if everybody took the time today to be nice to just one other person? That would be a worthwhile exercise. Maybe it will catch on.
But as to when I present offers, I do it when I receive them. As soon as an offer comes through my email, I zip it off to the seller. That’s because we’re looking for one buyer. Just one buyer. Not a whole bunch of buyers and a whole bunch of multiple offers. We’re not playing Bowling for Buyers. We want that one buyer who will pay the price at which the seller will sell. The buyer who loves the home more than anything and can prove it.
My advice for buyer’s agents is keep your eyeballs glued to MLS. Pendings happen within minutes in this real estate market. Don’t show your buyers a home on Saturday and hope by Sunday morning it is still available. And by MLS, I don’t mean Major League Soccer.
Hearing Aids and the Location of Your Cellphone Microphone
Eh, I can’t hear you, don’t have my hearing aid.
Huh, eh? What’s that? I can’t hear you. Is it just me or does there seem to be a rising number of hearing aid advertising around us? Everywhere you look; it’s ubiquitous. Billboards. Bus stops. Print. And the prices always seem to be a big secret, which tells me there is a huge profit margin in hearing aids.
Many years ago, I read an article in the Sacramento Bee about hearing aids. The American Hearing Loss Association says hearing loss is the most common chronic ailment prevalent among seniors — but of course they would say that. Apparently, 4 out 5 over the age of 80 can’t hear a darned thing. And that could be a good thing.
You want me to do WHAT? Can’t hear you. Go away.
Rock ‘n’ roll made me almost half deaf. So did sticking soda straws in one of my ears when I was eight. Why do people do stuff like that? I dunno. Why do kids stick crayons up their nose? Because they can. Nobody ever warned me: don’t stick a straw into your ear canal. I knew there was a way I could blame my parents for this. Or, maybe I read the back of those boxes for QTips that warns you should not use a QTip for the purpose for which it is intended and figured a soda straw would do the trick.
Somebody posted a cartoon on a website I frequent that shows an old person reaching for the dial to turn down the music. The caption is: You know you’re old when . . . The problem with that is if you can’t hear it, why would you turn it down?
This article in the Sac Bee says some seniors don’t buy hearing aids because they are vain. What’s that? You kids get offa my lawn. Thanks goodness I finally figured out the reason people haven’t been able to hear me is because I’ve been talking to the face of my cellphone. To the glass. I quit wearing a Bluetooth last year because my phone pairs so nicely with my new car.
No wonder people cart around their phones like a serving tray, holding the phone flat in the air and perpendicular to their lips. The microphone is at the bottom. Duh. When the time comes, I won’t hesitate to buy a hearing aid. No sirree. That way I’ll have an excuse, eh, can’t hear you; I’m not wearing my hearing aid.
For now, I hear you loud and clear. I have one really good ear. I use it. You want to sell a home in Sacramento, then call this top producer Sacramento Realtor, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759.
Reasons to Sell Real Estate in Sacramento
Sellers make it a joy to sell real estate in Sacramento.
One of the incredible things about my ability to sell real estate in Sacramento is the fact I get to meet such a huge variety of super cool people. People I would never meet otherwise because I never go anywhere and I have no friends. Not that I really like people, either. For the most part, I don’t like people. Not the “general public” people.
Now, before you start griping and saying there is no such thing as general public, there is only public, let me tell you that you would be correct. But you know what I mean, right? The people at the grocery store who ram their carts into the backs of your ankles and steal your parking space before you get to it. The people at sporting events who splash beer on you and won’t stand up when you try to squeeze by. The people at rock concerts who do stand up the whole time and block your view. Those clods.
But clients are generally special. Unique. Each has a different story. I learn something new from all of them. I’m honored to sell real estate in Sacramento. Below are a couple of examples.
I recall touring a special home in Elk Grove for a pre-listing appointment. These sellers had paid cash, more than $600,000 for this home. As I turned the corner from Bilby, I wondered to myself what would constitute a $600,000 home in that neighborhood because I’ve sold others in that Elk Grove neighborhood recently that were not that expensive.
I was blown away by this house. It was evident a lot of thought had gone into the upgrades, and each was carefully selected. It’s one of those homes that Realtors know beyond a shadow of a doubt once it hits the market buyers will be fighting over it. It’s that beautiful. But so are the sellers’ dollhouses. This seller creates dollhouses that are real life replicas, which I suppose is the definition of dollhouse. Miniature gold-plated dinnerware, crystal buckets, crystal chandeliers, custom hand-sewn drapery. It was a jaw-dropping experience, and I admire such talent.
I toured another pre-listing home in Fair Oaks. This time of year sellers think ahead of the market. The seller owns this home free and clear, and she is retiring out of state. The seller is in her 80s, and I have special place in my heart for elderly people. I don’t know very many older people. All of the older people in my family are dead. This seller’s smoke detector beeped when I walked in.
When I asked about it, she said her neighbor will come over “some day” and fix it for her. No, this is nuts. You can’t live with a constant beeping sound going on. Yeah, she said, she could and she got used to it. She was feisty. I wondered, is this what I have to look forward to in my older years of retirement, though? Beeping going on all around me and I can’t stop the sound? Will I be forced to rely on the kindness of strangers, like those clods at the grocery store?
OK, so agents aren’t supposed to do anything like this, too much liability, but I don’t care. I hauled the ladder out of the garage. It didn’t matter that I’m wearing a dress and 4-inch heels. Up the ladder I go, like a fool in those shoes. Remove the smoke detector, replace the battery and put it back.
I also got to see the seller’s Help-I’ve-Fallen-and-I Can’t-Get-Up device. She showed it to me. The butt of 3rd-grader jokes. Oh, you might think you will never need one of those but you’re probably wrong. This seller did indeed fall one day in her garage. She could not get up. She pressed the button and help arrived. She thought it was pretty funny when I suggested that it would be easier to have a chip implanted in your arm, except how would you activate it? You can wear one of those devices in the shower, too. You never take it off, the seller said.
I felt like I should have hugged her when I left, but I didn’t want to appear like one of those huggy-touchy-feelie people or overstep my boundaries. I’m just a Sacramento Realtor who gets to meet really interesting people. I’ll get the job done right for both of these sellers. And get them top dollar, too. Because that’s my job. I am so lucky to sell real estate in Sacramento. Those who are not in the business have no idea how much fun it is.
10 Days to Close Escrow on Wilhaggin Fixer House in Sacramento
10 days to close escrow on this fixer home in Wilhaggin.
When I walked through the Wilhaggin fixer house with the sellers, I saw 10 days to close escrow and the sellers saw a house that nobody would want to buy because of its condition. This home had been an eyesore in the Wilhaggin neighborhood for years. All the neighbors had their eyes on this house, hoping that someday it would be available for sale. Some had even approached the sellers with a wink-wink, nudge-nudge, offering to “help” buy.
To the sellers, this was once a home to a close family relative. They didn’t fall off any turnip truck lately and saw through the attempts to “help.” For various reasons, it had not been occupied in so long that carpet beetles had moved in, and now a bunch of them were hanging from the ceilings. When I first spied the beetles, I thought they were nails coming through the ceiling, hundreds of nails. But that would mean construction in the attic, which didn’t make any sense. The beetles were all dead, of course.
After we went on the market, the sellers called and asked if they should go over to vacuum up the carpet beetles, but the beetles were such a lively selling point, I didn’t see any reason to do it. The home would be sold AS IS. I have enough experience over the past 40 years selling homes in this type of condition, and cosmetics is the last thing anybody needs to do. I knew buyers would fight over it. They would want to close fast, probably like I anticipated, 10 days to close escrow.
Some buyers, I expected, would lowball. I don’t know why those buyers think that just because a home needs work, they don’t have to pay market value. It is my job to get the seller top dollar. We shot professional photos, although the carpet beetles didn’t show up in the photos, I made sure to include those creepy things in my description. This stirred up a huge buying frenzy, and eager buyers overloaded our Sunday open house. People just kept elbowing each other out of the way to get in.
We received 8 offers. Only one was a lowball, and that was some yo-yo trying to wholesale, which is a waste of time. Waste of his agent’s time, too. The extraordinary thing is the sellers had hoped the home was worth $200,000. They had paid for an appraisal that estimated value at $200K, which I can’t explain why or how that value happened except everybody has an opinion. Some opinions aren’t worth much.
I studied the neighborhood comps and estimated $425,000. That’s too high, the sellers thought. We compromised and listed the home at $399,000. Since the sellers were a little uneasy with an aggressive approach, listing under the $400K price-point meant we would attract many offers, so it was a good strategy to price at $399K. Well, we surpassed even my projection, and it sold at $435,000.
10 days to close escrow, all cash.
In fact, I had suggested we consider multiple counter offers, which would probably have pushed the price a little bit higher, but it was the seller’s choice to take the offer they liked the best. Not rock the boat, they said. It’s always the seller’s decision. We closed escrow yesterday. The good news is the sellers are so ecstatic with my performance, they have another listing for me!
