Email Elizabethsacramento realtor
Seller Recourse for a Bad Home Inspection in Sacramento
A bad home inspection is rare in Sacramento but it does occur.
Imagine, if you will, a scenario in which a bad home inspection can blow a real estate transaction in Sacramento, further compounded by the fact that sellers have no voice in the matter about which company will inspect their home, and you’ve got fodder for potential lawsuits, if not at least more revisions to the California Residential Purchase Agreement. It’s a crazy situation that there seems to be no solution to. It’s been this way in Sacramento real estate for so long that nobody even questions the validity of such shenanigans.
First there is the issue that the listing side and the selling side, by the very nature of the situation, are opposing sides. Yeah, yeah, you’ve got your pundits who want to believe in the win-win concept, the rose-colored glass is always half-full, but usually one side wins a little bit more than the other. This is the main reason I don’t like to endorse dual representation, even though dual agency is legal.
Like an agent who will list her own investment property and then sell that investment property to a buyer she also represents. Talk about dual agency galore party. You’ve gotta wonder about the representation in those types of matters, and why any risk-adverse real estate agent would undertake such a thing, but some agents do. That carries such risk on so many levels it can make your head spin. What kind of risk does a buyer take to believe a home inspector referred by the seller-slash-agent?
Recourses for a Bad Home Inspection
Moreover, what can a independently represented seller do if she receives a bad home inspection, riddled with errors and mistakes, ordered by the buyer’s agent? She can call a real estate lawyer if she suffers damages because of it. She can respond to the allegations and / or obtain independent reports. But the deal is a home buyer tends to believe the home inspector her agent recommends or the home inspector she independently chooses. Most buyers don’t know up from down when it comes to a home inspection. A seller can report the home inspector to a trade association, if the inspector belongs to such a trade association, but those groups are likely to say that home inspectors sometimes make mistakes. Sometimes they do.
There is no license for a home inspector in the state of California. No home inspector license. I’ve heard agents say they work with licensed home inspectors, and that is absolutely incorrect. Just about anybody can become a “home inspector” in Sacramento. There are no exams to pass, no licenses to obtain, no credentials required. That’s how we get bad home inspections. It’s the luck of the draw. The bell curve.
Oh, and in case you’re thinking that the seller could obtain her own home inspection in advance from a reputable and established home inspector, that is a bad idea. The reasons against this bad idea are three-fold. First, no two home inspections are identical, and the seller’s home inspection might find defects that the seller would feel compelled to repair when the eventual buyer might not care about those issues. Second, the buyer’s home inspection could note repair issues not found on the seller’s. Third, the buyer will still order her own inspection, regardless. Why cross the bridge twice?
Bottom line, all purchase contracts state the sale is AS IS, and a seller is not required to do any repairs. A home inspection is simply for the buyer’s edification. Whether it is a good home inspection or a bad home inspection, a buyer might never really know.
Sacramento Listing Agent Reports Activity
Professional Realtors in Sacramento stick with their sellers until the home sells.
Running out the door with one shoe on and one shoe dangling has been my life during the lovely month of May. Because part of the problem with a limited inventory market like we have in Sacramento is when a seller is ready to list her home, that listing can often be awarded to the first agent who shows up. It’s nice if that Sacramento listing agent is qualified and experienced, but that’s not always the case.
Which is the reason why not only do I expect to be first, but I feel like I need to explain my credentials, to make sure my sellers understand that what they are receiving is a rare commodity. A top Sacramento Realtor still kicking butt after 40 years. A seller called a few days ago to reschedule her appointment, which conflicted with something else. I told her it was OK to reschedule me, but I still want to be first. Because after she meets me, she won’t want to or need to talk to any other Sacramento listing agent.
She got a kick out of that. How many listing agents can say that, though? Or, perhaps I should ask how many agents can say that with a straight face and back it up?
My sellers typically appreciate my straight-forwardness and ability to get things done. One of my sellers seemed rather overwhelmed with a trust sale, so I offered to meet the locksmith and pay to have the locks changed on the day her listing goes on the market. It was a small thing, but something that I could slip into my schedule and handle for her, just to make her life easier, so that’s where I stopped by yesterday.
Just in time for a neighbor to pop over and start screaming at me, throwing accusations that I was not looking where I was driving because there could be children in the street. Even though there were no children there at the time. They could have jumped out of nowhere and landed on the hood of my car, and she wanted to make sure I understood the severity of the situation. After I ascertained that was indeed talking to me, doing my best Are You Talking to ME impersonation, I let her know I would definitely keep out my eye out.
Kinda hard to drive with one eye. Might squash a baby.
Another seller elected to alter a time-proven strategy and common listing practice because that’s not how her Sacramento listing agent tried (and failed) to sell her home 10 years ago. I explained that times change, local customs change, and if she didn’t do things the way I advised, it could hurt her chances of selling. But she wasn’t hearing any of it. You know what? Keeping my seller happy is more important. I offered to revisit the situation in 2 weeks if it doesn’t move like she imagined.
I wouldn’t trade what I do for any other job in the world.
Fixer in Sacramento Listing Hitting the Market Today
8455 Country Greens Ct, Sacramento, CA 95828 is for sale at $185K.
If you’re a budding Sacramento flipper or perhaps an experienced real estate investor looking for a fixer in Sacramento listing, here is the listing you’ve been waiting for. Granted, it is not a For Sale by Owner; it is listed by a top Sacramento Realtor who realizes her fiduciary responsibility is to her seller, so no under-the-table deals like a FSBO. I’m also not one of those agents who seek out dual agency so I can collect both sides of the commission by capitalizing on the “opportunity” to work with an investor who promises the next sale.
I know those kinds of investor buyers exist because I often receive calls from them. We have a list a mile long — which is a euphemism for you advertising police. They say they “want to only work with the listing agent,” and the reason is they are hoping the listing agent is greedy, a schmuck without much in the way of ethics. I hate to suggest they must find that kind of agent somewhere. These guys want to steal the property, make lowball offers, all based on locating a willing and cooperative agent to help them out. No wonder so many people hate real estate agents.
The reason I bring this up is because it’s the fixer in Sacramento listings that seem to drag these guys out of the bar and away from their fuel. Yet, we deal with them because they buy homes that need repair. There is a market for everything in Sacramento. You just have to weed through the less desirables to find the reasonable buyer: the woman or man or LLC who will pay market and close escrow without drama. You can see why not every agent will agree to take a fixer in Sacramento listing.
This new fixer in Sacramento listing is a 2-bedroom, 2-bath home near Elsie and Sunrise Greens. In fact, the subdivision is called Sunrise Greens. It’s about 900 square feet, with a beautiful back yard, a raised and covered deck, including an incredibly cute storage shed.
The second bath has been retrofitted and enlarged to accommodate a wheelchair, with a tiled floor and a roll-in shower. Both bedrooms are good sized and feature ceiling fans. Of course, it has central heat and air. The place just seems to cry out for cosmetics and updates.
Check out 8455 Country Greens Ct, Sacramento, CA 95828, which is offered exclusively by Lyon Real Estate and your Sacramento Realtor Elizabeth Weintraub, at $185K. Please call 916.233.6759 for more information about this fixer in Sacramento listing.
Coming Soon Condo in Woodside Oaks Alicante Villas
501 Woodside Oaks, #4, is a Coming Soon condo for sale in Woodside Oaks Alicante Villas.
Even though inventory is beginning to trickle into the Sacramento real estate market, there are no condos for sale in Woodside Oaks Alicante Villas. In fact, we have only 2,222 listings in all of Sacramento County. When you narrow the choice to the ZIP code of 95825 and look at only condos, we have 11 listings in MLS, ranging from $67K for a studio to $555 in Pavilions. In the $200K to $300K range, there is one condo at $276,000 in an older complex, which makes my new listing at Woodside Oaks Alicante Villas look fabulous.
The only problem is the condo is a Coming Soon at the moment, because it won’t hit the market until next Friday, providing all goes well. The seller’s son lived there during college, and he is in the process of moving. This is a 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath condo, one of the largest in the complex of 167 units at 1,597 square feet, per the county assessor.
It features granite counters in the kitchen and all of the baths, plus stone flooring in those rooms. There are two patios, one off the kitchen at the back and another off the living room at the other end of the space, providing light and spring breezes. In addition, the unit features a third outdoor space on the second floor by way of a balcony off the master suite.
The main level is used for entertaining, with all of the bedrooms upstairs. It is near the entrance to Woodside Oaks Alicante Villas but the condo itself is at the end of the building, toward the inside of the complex, so you don’t really hear any traffic. It’s a corner unit, too. The HOA dues are approximately $456 a month, and is one of the highlights of living in Woodside Oaks Alicante Villas, with a beautiful pool, spa and workout gym. You can barbecue at the pool area.
The seller says many medical professionals live in Woodside Oaks Alicante Villas. It’s minutes from UC Davis Medical Center and downtown Sacramento, near Howe and Sierra. Call your Sacramento Realtor, Elizabeth Weintraub, at Lyon Real Estate, 916.233.6759 for more information. 501 Woodside Oaks, #4, Sacramento, CA 95825 at $259K.
Mercedes C300 is a Suitable Sacramento Realtor Vehicle
Elizabeth Weintraub and 2016 Mercedes C300 in the Sacramento rain, with her Porsche in background.
If you had asked me yesterday morning what kind of car this Sacramento Realtor was going to buy on Saturday, I would not have said a 2016 Mercedes C300. For one thing, it’s a four-door and considered a sedan, so the photos online did not appeal to me. I like a sportier car. Which is why I drove a Porsche Boxster. And why I left home in the rain thinking I would probably buy the BMW 228i convertible. Niello BMW has such a vehicle on the lot, metallic black with a red interior, goes from 0 to 60 in 5.7 seconds.
BMW 228I convertible with Elizabeth Weintraub
Plus, Niello BMW over on Fulton is a nice dealership to deal with. Everybody is laid back. The Consumer Report customer satisfaction ratings for BMW are much higher than for Mercedes. On top of that, Mark Cornell at BMW is a friendly, straight forward kinda guy. But so is the sales manager, Jose Armenta, at Mercedes. Yet, Jose gave me a much better deal on my Porsche trade-in and more of a discount off the C300 than BMW offered. I thought since Niello also owned the Porsche dealership that it would have offered more for my Porsche than Mercedes, but that was an incorrect assumption.
Let’s just say that for two cars priced very closely to each other, it would have cost an extra $9,000 to buy the BMW. So financially, it made more sense to choose Mercedes, but money isn’t everything. More important, I really wanted a more comfortable ride. I’ve had decades of bouncing around in first a Mercedes SLK and then a Boxster, and I now prefer a smoother ride, without feeling every single bump in the road. However, if I happen to get too nostalgic about it, the C300 features a function that can change “comfort” ride to “sport” and even “super-dooper sporty.”
Dash of Mercedes C300
The other cool features of the C300 are safety related such as blind assist, it actually warns you if another vehicle is in your blind spot when you change lanes. Its windows fold in for tight parking spots in the City. If you kick your foot under the rear bumper, the trunk opens. The downside is I could not download my address book to the communication center. It got to the J’s before it was full. But I can use Siri to call through the car’s bluetooth, which provides amazingly clear reception.
I love the panoramic sunroof, so it’s like a convertible without so much raw wind. I can also clear curbs with the sporty front end. Three times I’ve had to fix scratches on the underside of the Porsche bumper. The Mercedes C300 is much smarter than me. Yup, I’ve finally bought a car that is capable of doing more things than I will probably ever have time to discover. Plus, it will look good photographed in front of my listings. Many of my listings have featured my Porsche in the street. Just so buyers can say: “Oh, look, the neighbor drives a Porsche!”
OK, so it’s not the 2016 Mercedes GLA I had ordered last fall. That new delivery time was too nebulous. I also think Jose felt like they messed up with the first order and wanted to make this experience better, and he even mentioned he was grateful I gave them a second chance. Not every buyer will give a dealer a second chance, when you think about it. I know some buyers would have stomped out, but I’ve been around on earth long enough to know that it’s not so much the mistakes that happen, it’s what they do to rectify it.
A big thanks as well to my team member and friend, Barbara Dow, for helping me shop for a new car yesterday. It was a good thing now the GLA did not arrive on time. Sometimes mistakes work out for the better.
