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If You’re Looking for Homes in the Med Center, This Tudor is Open Sunday
3624 Y Street, Sacramento, CA 95817
They don’t make homes like these Tudor-style homes in the Med Center any cuter. Isn’t this 1923 brick and stucco exterior utterly charming? If you like the exterior, you’ll love the interior. Waiting for you inside is newly refinished hardwood floors with inlays, the type of thing you’d see in homes costing much more than this affordable price. When you enter, you are in the living room, with two sides of windows flooding the room with light. There is also a brick fireplace, featuring the original mantel, flanked by leaded glass bookcases and very pretty period light sconces.
Living room and dining at 3624 Y St, Sacramento, CA 95817
Through the curved arch is another gorgeous room, the dining room, with a built-in China hutch, matching the original leaded-glass from the living room, plus a few drawers underneath. Again the leaded glass built-in is a continuing feature in the kitchen breakfast nook. So often these types of original detailing are stripped from a home of this caliber by idiots who don’t recognize historic value in architecture.
Although there is no dishwasher in the kitchen, this home in the Med Center does come with a free standing gas range and a refrigerator. The counters are original tile, and the sink is extra deep. Off the kitchen is a bonus room that could be used as a hobby room or you could move the washer and dryer connections from the basement up to this room fairly easily. There is a built-in closet and extra storage in the bonus room, too.
Massive back yard at 3624 Y Street in Sacramento, CA
Two bedrooms are located at opposite ends of the hall, which also features a pull-out telephone seat from days gone by and a nook for the telephone. The bath is a brilliant blue accented by super white subway tile, and a chicken-wire tile floor.
An unusual feature available with this home over other homes in the Med Center is this home is located on an alley with RV access. Behind the fence in the back yard is another yard with a double gate and a storage shed. There is a slab through the gates for an RV or boat. You could park at least 4 cars in that space, maybe more. Or, you could use the area as a dog run. It’s located within a short distance to U.C. Davis, commutable by your own two feet, a wheelchair or a skateboard.
Come to the open house on Sunday, June 28th, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM. 3624 Y St, Sacramento, CA, 95817 is offered exclusively by Elizabeth Weintraub and Lyon Real Estate, at $325K. Call 916.233.6759 for a private showing before then.
How Many Listings Should a Sacramento Realtor Carry?
The number of listings might have little bearing on a Sacramento Realtor’s ability to service.
A question that really has no bearing on reality but I get asked it often enough all the same is: Elizabeth, how many listings do you have? For starters, I suspect people want to use the answer as a quantifier. If you have one or two listings, you look like a loser in some people’s eyes. If you have 200 listings, you could look like a person who doesn’t have time to brush her teeth much less pay attention to her clients, and that assumption could be way off base, too.
What makes a difference, though, is in what position are those Sacramento listings? By that I mean are they pending, pending short lender approval (which is different than a pending sale), active contingent, pending bring back-up, active release clause, an active short sale or simply an active listing? I generally carry about 25 listings at any given time, but the active listings, the homes that take up most of my time, might only range from 3 to 5. I typically sell my active listings pretty quickly because I do things right. The short sale listings require a lot more time on the market because today’s buyers tend to pass those by.
A few years back, like 2010 or 2011, I carried on average about 75 listings in various states of status. Talk about stress. I am conscientious, though. When I worked on that amount of inventory, I was often out of bed by 4 or 5 AM and hard at work. I do what it takes, and that’s what it took to keep my sanity and my sellers happy with my performance. Now, that my inventory has fallen by about two-thirds as the number of homes for sale overall in the Sacramento Valley have slipped, things are fairly normal and quiet for me. It’s almost like being on vacation.
I realize for another Sacramento Realtor, 25 listings might seem like a horrendous number, but for me, it’s just business as usual. I can sleep in until 7 AM now. That’s a luxury. There is no question what my focus is for the day. I don’t spend much time on looking for business because business comes to me. I’m very fortunate that way. Many other real estate agents spend at least half of their time prospecting for clients, but I don’t. Some choose to work only part-time. I work full-time. My time is focused 100% on my clients and my listings.
Keeping track of 25 files and maneuvering moving targets is easy for an organized person to do. Besides, many decades ago, like in the 1970s, I was a certified escrow officer, and I used to work on a caseload of 60 to 80 files at a time. If you think handling a real estate file as an agent is time consuming, try being an escrow officer. Escrow is where I developed my organizational skills, and that ability has served me well as a top producer Sacramento Realtor. I try to treat each of my clients as though they are my ONLY client, because if I don’t, that’s exactly what would happen.
I am never too busy for a client. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. I answer my cell.
Citi Bank Customer Service is an Oxymoron
Citibank Customer Service is an oxymoron
Premium credit cards like Citi Bank Double Cash Back offer benefits such as you get to talk to a real live person who works somewhere in the United States, presumably, not overseas, and this individual is supposed to provide superior service. This means you call a phone number and a person answers the phone, not this automated crap that leaves you shouting into your phone: REPRESENTATIVE YOU FREAKIN’ MORON and eventually hanging up. And you generally need to pay extra for that service or obtain a premium card in order to get a person to answer the phone on a direct dial call, which is a whole other sorry state of affairs in itself or, as my husband likes to put it: Welcome to the 21st Century.
I have yet to use my premium double-cash-back Citi Card because I could not sign up for the account online and therefore could not link it to my accounting system. Oh, yes, I had my stinkin’ PIN number but I could not seem to get it registered, so I called Citi Bank. After much hoopla, the Citi Bank customer service representative informed me that I needed a new PIN number and the only way I could get a new PIN number was to go into the bank and pick it up or he could mail a new PIN to me. OK, Citi Bank can make me, as a Sacramento REALTOR, go into the bank to get a short sale approval letter from Citi Bank because, for some screwed-up reason, the bank is not allowed to email the letter outside of its screwed-up system, but it is not forcing me as an actual customer to physically drive to the bank, no way, Jose.
The bank mailed a new PIN to me, and I called Citi Bank Customer Service yesterday to set up my online account, as I was instructed because it’s complicated and it is linking all sorts of accounts together. The representative told me I needed to go to the bank and use my PIN number in order to activate it. What? I guess that’s why the previous PIN number did not work online. Because it had not been activated. He said I didn’t need to transfer funds, just go to the ATM, check my balance and voila, the PIN would be activated. What?
Is he smoking crack? First he reveals they didn’t need to mail the new PIN because I already possessed the power, and then he follows it up with I need to go the bank, which was not gonna happen. I don’t ordinarily scream at people on the phone. He received an earful of precisely how many pieces I was about to slice my card into and that I would cancel all of my other accounts as well and clear out funds.
He put me on hold. All of a sudden, he was able to link my accounts together. Isn’t it funny how that happens? If I treated a client like that, they’d boot me out the door. It’s infuriating, and I don’t know why more people aren’t hysterical. Why do people accept this kind of treatment? We’re just all minions. Products of committee decisions.?Digitized.
My first banking account was opened in 1969 with a friendly teller at Franklin Bank, a historic stone building on Franklin and Blaisdell in Minneapolis, which is now sadly some sort of government structure. A white-haired fellow ushered me to an oversized leather chair as I handed over my driver’s license and he opened my checking account . . . and man, those days are long gone. You kids get offa my lawn.
You want personalized service today you go to The Golden1. Which, as you may know, is now the name of our new downtown Kings Arena in Sacramento.
Sacramento MetroList to Agents: We Lied, Too Bad, So Sad
Just when us Sacramento REALTORS thought it was safe again to bend over in the shower, our Mafia Sacramento MetroList proves us wrong. About 6 months after MetroList announced we were NOT required to sell our lockboxes back to MetroList at 60 bucks (or so) a pop and we could continue to use those lockboxes until the day they died, MetroList, without explanation, has reversed that decision. Wait, it gets better. Remember that shitty $60 trade-in allowance offered for the iBox Exchange? Now it’s only $20. They cut it by two thirds. But not wanting to be total assholes, apparently, MetroList will give every agent until the end of December 2015 to comply and buy new Bluetooth iBoxes, the Supra BT LE.
The way I found out was by logging into my Sacramento MetroList yesterday to read the announcement — which has since vanished from its homepage — so I thought it best to alert my fellow agents that some of us are about to get screwed even worse than last fall. If you sell 2 or 3 homes a year, this probably is not a big deal to you. But if you’re like me, a Sacramento REALTOR who moves more than 100 homes a year, it totally sucks. My Supra account reports that I personally maintain 62 lockboxes in my inventory, and 12 of those are new Bluetooth iBoxes. This means I must sell 50 lockboxes, once worth about $5,000, for 20 cents on the dollar. Then I can replace that inventory by blowing $6,250 (*including tax for those of you doing the math) for the new Bluetooth iBoxes.
No matter how you look at it, if I want to maintain my present inventory, I’ve gotta dig into my nickel jar to find $5,000 to donate to MetroList. Not to mention drag out my red wagon to load up 50 lockboxes, and pull it along like a pack mule in 100-degree summer heat for 2 1/2 hours to reach MetroList. They should send a Rolls Royce to pick me up for the money I’m throwing at them.
What happened to the promise that we can keep our old lockboxes? I guess we’re SOL. My lockboxes still have plenty of juice left in them and should fully function at least another 4 to 5 years. They work, and when they don’t work for some reason, they can be fixed without much trouble. When a Bluetooth iBox malfunctions, you’re up a creek without a bolt cutters. I had a Bluetooth iBox die after only 20 showings. Stuck on the handrail of a home in Land Park. Just refused to operate.
I can speculate about why MetroList reversed itself without warning and without a conversation nor an explanation, but that would be pure speculation. It’s probably about the money, though. It’s always about the money. Especially when they say it’s not about the money, you can rest assured, it’s about the money.
Agents: If you don’t replace your lockboxes by December 31, MetroList will automatically fine you. Keep it up, and they’ll send you to, get this, a “tribunal hearing.” That’s a fine how do you do.
Another Luxury Waterfront Home in Riverlake for Sale
846 Cobble Cove Lane, Sacramento, CA
Selling luxury homes in Sacramento is exciting for most Realtors but it’s especially intriguing for me because I create a personal connection with these homes. When you’re selling homes to first-time home buyers, most just want a nice home in a good neighborhood at an affordable price. Luxury home selling is a different story, which generally requires a lot more time, finessing the meticulous detailing and focusing on emotionally driven marketing, coupled with extreme agent-to-agent networking. It is not a matter of splashing photos online but superb photography certainly adds flavor and punctuates.
Take a look at this custom waterfront home in the Riverlake community of Cobble Shores. It is situated kitty corner from the home I put into escrow on Still Breeze in Riverlake earlier this month. The backyard of this home faces southeast and, unlike Still Breeze, it is located on a culdesac. The seller poured a ton of money into the home and yard over the past few years, much of it in the landscaping and water frontage foundation. He’s made improvements that are meant to last a lifetime, designed to improve the overall structure and integrity of the home, things that many other people wish they could afford but never get around to doing.
846 Cobble Cove Lane, Sacramento, CA
Apart from ripping up the yard and resurfacing the salt water pool, the seller has laid a new lawn, put in drainage, installed sprinklers, two sets of outdoor lighting systems with complementary colors, and built a new dock constructed from manmade materials guaranteed to last for years, and all sorts of other fundamental improvements that don’t exactly tickle your fancy but enhance your environment.
When you enter this luxury waterfront home in Riverlake, the panoramic view of the water is laid out in front you. In fact, you can enjoy water views from almost every room. There is a bonus room near the entry with newer French doors, including a newer hardwood floor with inlays, which is presently used as a game room but could also be utilized as a home office or even a guest bedroom. Although, there is a sought-after bedroom on the first floor with a full bath and patio access, in addition to a guest bath on the first floor. The family room is enormous, opening up to the second floor with vaulted ceiling and a full brick fireplace. It features a wet bar, in addition to floor-to-ceiling built-in base and wall cabinets with glass doors — enough storage space to showcase your top-selling wine, beer and cocktail glassware from Pottery Barn.
Salt Water Pool at 846 Cobble Cove Lane, Sacramento
The kitchen features an abundance of cabinets, sealed ceramic counters, an island with dining bar, induction cooktop, convection oven, a big walk-in pantry and a breakfast nook that overlooks the water, which is a perfect spot to enjoy a morning coffee while watching ducks bobbing up and down. On the other side of the kitchen is a separate dining room, which also enjoys fabulous water views, and is large enough to accommodate more than a dozen guests. Would you like to view a virtual tour of Cobble Cove?
Patio overlooking pool and waterfront 846 Cobble Cove Lane
Upstairs, you’ll find 3 more bedrooms, one of which is the master suite, which you enter through impressively large and formal French doors. Yes, there are two separate vanities and dressing areas, but the jetted tub and separate shower both share forever views across the lake. For a doctor after a long day at the hospital, for example, you’d be in heaven sipping a sparkling glass of Kistler Chardonnay, tickling the bubbles with your toes and seizing that moment to gaze upon the stars across the evening waters. It’s a sanctuary.
Additional notes: 127-feet of lakefront, positioned in one of the best spots on this 32-acre lake. The roof is called a “forever” roof and was installed in 2013. If you need a luxury 4 bedroom, 4 bath home in Riverlake with a salt-water pool, lush lawn, private dock, this home is available now exclusively through Lyon Real Estate, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916.233.6759. Offered at $895K.
