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The WX Freeway and FIX50 Project Make Google Maps Your Friend
Staying “in the know” about Sacramento and Sacramento real estate is my primary focus from day to day, so it’s not so odd, I suspect, that I was unaware of other things. I learn new things every day. I enjoy learning new things. It also means if I’m capable of absorbing new information, I’m still a long ways from keeling over. The funny part is I am often astonished when I learn some new unrelated-to-real-estate-fact that I should have known. Like, did you know Liz Claiborne is dead and she died from cancer 7 years ago?
I bet you do know that. The other thing I didn’t realize is her line of clothing had bought Kate Spade & Company. I know Kate Spade as a New York bag designer who married the comedic lame brother of B-grade-movie fame, but I’m kinda shocked that Kate Spade was acquired by Liz Claiborne and even more now that the Liz Claiborne brand is sold at J.C. Penney. All of which I probably would have realized had I continued to thumb through fashion magazines after I turned 40. But no, I instead read real estate magazines.
There are only so many hours in the day.
Which is why I have had to morph into the Google map expert to help my clients get around Sacramento with the W X freeway and FIX50 traffic mess we are embarking upon. My world is Sacramento real estate. Because I list homes all over Sacramento and our neighboring counties such as El Dorado, Placer and Yolo, I am a regular WX freeway driver. With my schedule, the biggest problem I have faced is whether to head out from Land Park on Highway 50 or Business 80, and sometimes I admit to driving out the wrong freeway if I’m yakking on my cellphone bluetooth.
Fortunately, I have a WX freeway hover car. All I have to do is press that hover button on my dash, and my car sprouts wings and fire sprays from the tailpipe. I immediately rise above the line of traffic and can promptly plop my car into the fast line on the appropriate freeway. So, no problem if I make a mistake. For other people, though, it’s a huge problem, and there are more of them ahead if they don’t preplan their driving route in Sacramento.
Hello Google my old friend. I’ve come to talk with you again.
Picking the Buyer When Selling Homes in Sacramento Could Violate Fair Housing
Regular sellers with equity — and even sellers of homes in Sacramento who end up doing a short sale — can choose their buyer and establish requirements that the buyer must meet. You know why they can do this? Because they own the home and, with some legal exceptions, sellers can decide what kind of person buys it.
This is not to say that a seller can discriminate against any of the protected classes under the Fair Housing Act. For example, a seller could not say I am interested only in selling to a family with kids or to a guy in a wheelchair. You can’t pick a protected class and exclude others or vice versa. This is yet another reason to hire a top Sacramento real estate agent because agents are supposed to know, understand and follow the Fair Housing Act, among other regulations.
I’ve personally had buyers say to me they did not want to buy in a neighborhood in which minorities of any color live and, believe it or not, I have stopped the car and told them to get the hell out. Fortunately, we were still in the parking lot and not on the W / X freeway. They can go find some redneck yo-yo to work with them, but not this agent. Sadly to say, there is always some doofus moron who doesn’t give a flying fig about Fair Housing, but I’m definitely not one of those.
Sellers are allowed, though, to choose an owner occupant, for example, over an investor. I asked our lawyers. That’s almost a moot point as most of the investors have left the market in Sacramento, which leaves a bit of breathing room for Sacramento home buyers now, but it’s good to know. Btw, if you see that sales are down by 1/3rd, it’s because the investors have split. But some are still hanging out, writing lowball offers in hopes that if they throw enough crap at the wall, something will stick.
If you want to ensure the quality of your neighborhood and care enough to please your neighbors when you depart, then you might want to consider selling to an owner occupant over a buyer who will rent out your house. Even if that home needs fixing up, a rental investor is not always the answer. Whenever there is an increase of rentals in a neighborhood, the value of the other homes around it tend to go down.
