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My Dying Brother, Bruce Springsteen, Master’s Club
Elizabeth Weintraub earned Master’s Club 2016 in February.
Two really good things happened on February 29th for me: first, my brother (who is dying from soft cell sarcoma) got to see Bruce Springsteen play at the Xcel Center in St. Paul, and the other is this Sacramento Realtor reached the pinnacle for Sacramento Master’s Club qualifications for 2016. Of the two, I’m more thrilled for my brother John. The Boss is his hero. Although he has made it to see the age of 62, he has never seen Bruce Springsteen perform in person, and he almost didn’t go. Jon Bream, the music critic in St. Paul, was very helpful to me and explained how to go about getting tickets for handicap access to the show. Thank you, Jon!
My sister Margie escorted my brother in his wheelchair. At one point, they encountered steps from the parking garage, and two passersby, without batting an eye, each grabbed a wheel of the chair and carried my brother down the steps. It’s nice to know that good Samaritans still exist in world that seems punctuated by such ugliness like Donald Trump. According to John Oliver, btw, his real family surname appears to be Drumpf. #MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain.
You can see the photo of the show below, shot on my sister’s cellphone. My brother was very touched by the show. Springsteen talked to the audience, interacted, and played nonstop from 8 PM to 11:28 when my brother decided to leave because his energy level collapsed. He pooped out before The Boss. Bruce Springsteen continued on, so we don’t know how long the show actually lasted. I am so happy I could make it happen for him. There’s so little I can do from California, except call him every week, which I do.
Bruce Springsteen show at Xcel Center in St. Paul, MN, Feb 29th, 2016
The 29th of February was also my qualifying day for Master’s Club through the Sacramento Association of Realtors. There have been years when I have qualified as early in the year as January, but it took an extra month this year. I think back to when I first earned Master’s Club, and it seemed like such a struggle all those years ago. To qualify now, an agent needs to have closed a minimum of eight homes with a combined dollar volume of four million. With the median price still under $300K in Sacramento, that can add up to a lot of sales to achieve that mark. But I finally crossed over that four million threshold on February 29th, which is fairly remarkable in such a low inventory market like Sacramento at the moment.
I am also an Outstanding Life Member of Master’s Club, having achieved that particular status through last year’s 2015 production. Nobody probably cares about this stuff except other agents. To my clients, though, it means they can expect excellence, coupled with decades of experience. If you’re looking for a Sacramento Realtor, please call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Just don’t expect me to say anything nice about Donald Trump.
Selling Luxury Homes in Sacramento With Team Weintraub
Flowers delivered to Amy McMullan from happy home buyers in Sacramento.
How would you like to get your real estate license and close a multi-million transaction as one of your first? I suspect that scenario is every new agent’s dream. It’s probably also the way many in the public view the work of real estate agents; that it’s glamorous, just like on HGTV, and we wash our hair in champagne for extra bounce and body. In actuality, it is extremely hard work, especially starting out when there is so much to learn and not much in time in which to acquire that knowledge. It’s not always a case of selling luxury homes in Sacramento for a newer agent. In fact, it’s rarely.
In some ways, being a brand new agent is like standing in the middle of a public street at rush hour, while cars whiz by and you try not to get killed. Stuff coming at you from all directions and not just at eye level. Birds overhead pooping as they fly past and you’re ducking to avoid the droppings.
I know this because even though it’s been more than 40 years since I entered the real estate profession, I do personally mentor my Elizabeth Weintraub Team agents. Sometimes, when you’re a team leader who is searching for that perfect team member, it’s more advantageous and smarter to work with an individual who has all the right traits to become an enormous success in the business and help them get licensed than to choose an agent with decades of experience.
Amy McMullan and I go way back. She was one of my first clients when I came to Sacramento. When she called last year to talk about obtaining her California real estate license, I knew without a doubt in my mind that she will soar in this business. She and I share similar personalities and outlooks. Amy loves the real estate business with an irrefutable passion; she has focus, tenacity, intelligence and tons of common sense. She just closed a transaction for a little under $2 million. She now knows early on what it’s like to be an agent selling luxury homes in Sacramento.
The clients called me out of the blue on a Saturday morning, quite early, and I answered the phone. Chatted briefly and decided the personality of the buyer fit Amy’s personality perfectly. At the time, I had no idea they wanted to look at multi-million homes, but it would not have changed my opinion that Amy could handle it. We poured over listings online. Talked incessantly. Discussed each listing and how to handle showing it. Intense training.
Negotiated our way through the purchase contract. Once in escrow, we spoke almost daily about the inspections and repairs. Amy sought advice from other Team Weintraub agents, too. Thank you, Josh and thank you, Barbara. We all work together. Amy was never alone in this. Both Josh and Barbara have experience selling luxury homes in Sacramento, just like me.
However, it was definitely Amy’s incredible strength, her dedication and her wisdom that closed the transaction. I am extremely proud that these clients were ecstatic and thrilled to the extent they sent the beautiful flower arrangements pictured above to our office for Amy. Congratulations, Amy. You are on your way to becoming a rock star! I am jazzed to call you my friend and team member. We all on the Team envision greatness for you. And after other brokers see this blog, they will undoubtedly try to steal you away. It’s the nature of the business.
But we know where your heart lies.
Coming Soon Waterfront Home in Riverlake, Sacramento
Aerial view of 774 Still Breeze Way, Sacramento, CA 95831
Sitting quietly, specifically angled to catch the rays of morning light as the sun showers Riverlake in gold across the water, is a magnificent custom home in the exclusive gated-community of Stillwater at Riverlake. A home of this caliber comes along maybe once in a lifetime. The location is premier water frontage, next to a private beach with its own boat dock and forever panoramic views of the water.
Dining patio at 774 Still Breeze Way
When I first entered this home, it gave me the same feeling I experienced when I first laid eyes on the Grand Canal after leaving the Santa Lucia train station; unprepared for the historical beauty that gloriously unfolded below my feet. That’s not to say I did not enjoy the tamukeyamas, palms and assorted Japanese maples adorning the front yard, nor that I did not appreciate the stamped concrete steps set on the diagonal with the whimsical carriage man statue at the top, accentuated by the high walls of glass around the home; still, the water view is overpowering and dominant.
Pool at 774 Still Breeze Way
Apart from the 6 bedrooms, 5 baths and more than 4,000 square feet of refined luxury, this waterfront home in Riverlake also boasts a pool every bit delightful as its marvelous interior. Ample yard space near the pool provides access to the dock and your paddleboat, plus a beautiful patio perfect for entertaining. An office features a gleaming hardwood floor with mahogany inlays and an old world map from before Russia split up on the ceiling. Much of the first floor is covered in blushing pink Mexican pavers, which lends an Old World connection to the modern updates such as the unique Brazilian granite gracing the kitchen counters and island or the rare South African wood used in the family room. An unexpected bonus is the separate guest quarters with its own set of stairs, kitchen, work-out room and master suite.
Master suite balcony 774 Still Breeze Way
Of course the kitchen features everything your discriminating taste demands such as a wine refrigerator, a built-in Subzero, a built-in Miele coffeemaker / expresso, Wolf gas range, and quite possibly the quietest dishwasher this side of Germany. The master suite is the piece de la resistance, with her to-die-for closet, which came into life as a bedroom and today features walls of built-in storage for your designer shoes and bags, plus rows of rods, thoughtfully laid out under a large chandelier. Touch the mirror in the bath and the TV appears, just like you might find at The Four Seasons. You can also relax on the romanic master suite balcony at the end of the day, if you prefer an elevated view from this waterfront home in Riverlake.
For a private showing beginning on Friday, April 24th, 2015, you may call the listing agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916.233.6759.
774 Still Breeze Way, Sacramento, CA 95831 is exclusively offered by Lyon Real Estate at $1,195,000, and will be on the market on April 24th.
You Can Be Successful in Real Estate Without Eating Shit
You don’t have to eat shit to be successful in real estate.
There are some sellers in Sacramento who show signs that they intensely dislike real estate agents, all of them, me included, and they don’t even know me. They think we are all the same and it’s just a matter of picking one out of the police lineup who charges the least. A flipper dude with a high end property who has been unable to sell with some other agent sent me a text the other day claiming I was an “expensive girlfriend.” He wanted me to list his home. The more I thought about that completely creepy, disrespectful and discriminatory comment, the less I wanted to work for him. Ick. In fact, I made sure I did not.
Now I realize that most people have no idea what a successful Sacramento REALTOR does all day. They think we lie around the back yard in a hammock munching on grapes fed to us by slaves waving large fans, and no, that only happens at night, not during the day. My day generally starts around 6 AM. A few hours later, I hope to have completed writing several blogs and answering emails, and be dressed, ready to hit the streets.
I work continually all day. Answer emails. Write emails. Answer text messages. Write text messages. Answer phone calls. Make phone calls. Update property listings. Prepare paperwork for new listings. Write marketing comments. Rewrite marketing comments. Create addendums. Satisfy contingencies. Instill contingencies. Negotiate contingencies. Shoot photographs. Lots of photographs. Download photographs. Photoshop correct photographs and upload. Distribute listings to networks. Set appointments to meet with sellers. Conduct initial inspections of properties. Explain processes. Rearrange the order of my photographs. Negotiate existing pending sales. Negotiate new offers. Order inspections by third-party vendors. Double-check estimated closing statements. Handle special requests from clients. Set up open houses. Provide feedback on showings. Tweak existing listings. Take listings off the market and put them back on the market. Review present strategies for each listing. Prepare for closings. Change keys in lockboxes. Remove lockboxes. Install lockboxes. Advise sellers. Advise agents. Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate, and persuade others to view things a different way.
It’s not easy to be successful in real estate or everybody would.
You will notice that nowhere in that huge paragraph above is anything about looking for new business. Most agents spend about 1/3 of their time hunting for business. My business typically comes to me. They have read my reviews online and /or talked with other clients who have worked with me, and decided that I have a unique ability they desire. It is no accident that my clients are ecstatic and sing my praises. This Sacramento REALTOR produces results.
I’ve spent decades in this business and came up through the ranks the hard way — working with every person, asshole or not, who decided he or she wanted to hire a real estate agent. Those days are long gone. It took me a while to figure out that I didn’t have to eat shit. My track record speaks for itself; I can choose with whom I desire to work. There’s got to be a reason beyond financial to work with a person, but not with individuals who don’t respect nor value your abilities.
Financial reasons don’t drive me. Yet, I still sell $30 million or so. This is where I’ve always wanted to be, a successful person who maintains her integrity and doesn’t eat any shit. The way to do that is to work with people you respect who reciprocate. These people you can make happy. Happy clients provide personal satisfaction to the agent, and a reason to excel in the real estate business.
So, you have your choice among agents who are successful in the real estate business. You can be a shit-eating agent who is successful (and there’s nothing wrong with that), or you can decide not to be and still be successful. I hope to be an inspiration for others.
Depending on Your Sacramento Realtor to Perform Can Be a Good Thing
I realize there are a lot of people who prefer to feel in control of their lives and often spot this control issue manifested in the people who engage in buying or selling a home in Sacramento. That’s because the real estate business is becoming more complicated with each passing day, and even though you might realize deep down in your soul that you’re better off depending on a professional, a Sacramento Realtor, to handle the situation for you, you might resent it a little bit if it’s an area in which you possess little knowledge.
Just because you bought a home once or sold a few homes doesn’t mean you know jack squat, to put it bluntly, about the real estate market today. It evolves and grows and the temperature of the market can change course as fast as a Kardashian can bleach her hair. The one thing that tends to remain constant is the people involved in it.
I’ve been thinking about this phenomena, and wondering how the children of the millennials will survive in the world to come. They will lead completely dependent lives, very different than mine, dependent on technology to always work with no idea whatsoever of how to create or manage it. They might not even drive their own cars. They will be totally lost if an asteroid hits the earth and wipes out half of the planet or the super volcano in Yellowstone explodes, stuff you don’t believe will ever happen but very well could, or any of the other climate change atrocities that await. Millennials are no Tank Girl.
Knowing how stuff works or at least having an inkling about it is very helpful and reassuring. I’m proud of the fact that I can operate my big screen TV today, which is more than some old goats can do. This Sacramento Realtor is a pro at Internet marketing as well. I’m interested in how things work and quickly adapt to new technology. But I wasn’t always this way. Why, I recall how helpless I felt sitting on a mattress on the floor in my very first house and wondering what would happen if I turned on the light switch and the overhead light didn’t go on. What would I do? I could not at that point afford to hire an electrician, who could take half of my meager weekly take-home pay just for a service call. Electricity was like magic to me. Sitting in the dark was not an option.
Imagine my joy to discover I could turn off the main breaker switch, remove the switch plate cover to change out a $2.00 piece of metal and plastic by attaching the neutral wire to the neutral, the hot wire to the hot and the grounding to the ground. I began a long journey into home improvement projects which, to this day, have been inspirational, informative, lucrative and extremely helpful, even when I’m not doing the work myself.
But when you need a Sacramento Realtor to solve a real estate-related problem, buy a home, or sell your home fast and efficiently, then it helps to know which real estate agents are doing the bulk of the business in Sacramento and to hire one of those. You can certainly share your own thoughts about the process, but a busy agent is a productive agent and an agent who has acquired knowledge that will benefit you. You can rely on a professional and worry later about the future for your grandkids. You should call Elizabeth Weintraub. As busy as I am, I do answer my cell: 916.233.6759.
