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Sacramento, CA Real Estate News

By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you
(Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)
This is the third time this month that a seller has told me they read a blog I wrote and decided to hire me. It makes me wonder how many other clients never say a thing. Many just say they found me online, and that could mean anything. They could have gone to one of those websites that lists top agents and found my name on it.Or they could have read a blog. I guess I should ask more questions about where my clients come from so I can continue that process, but the fact is I do so many different things online, it's hard to say which work. An online effort that I absolutely know works, though, is writing a blog. It's why I've been blogging for 12 years now.Why more Sacramento agents don't blog is beyond me. We all have something important to say. Well, OK, most of us. You can read more in...
Comments 24
By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you
(Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)
Some sellers cannot believe it when I share details about the huge market for fixer homes in Sacramento. They judge the home based on their own standards. They often apologize for the condition, even if it's a home they just inherited. Quitely, they wonder if anybody will buy it and, if they would, they imagine the price being rock bottom.There is also a huge plethora of investors in Sacramento who want to buy fixer homes. They run the gamut as well. Some have a lot of experience and a strict formula for profit. Others have more leeway. Still others have found interesting ways to cut costs of construction.  Some obviously have no idea what they are doing. And you'll run into all of these folks selling a fixer home.Over the decades, this has become one of my specialities. Some agents rar...
Comments 5
By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you
(Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)
The birds were singing up a storm yesterday, sending out mating calls. They love to claim branches in our crepe myrtle tree or maple trees, which are just starting to bud out. This time of year you can see birds much more easily because they aren't camouflaged by leaves. That's a black phoebe above.This is also the time of year I am fairly busy with listing appointments. I've completed four already this week with a couple more coming up. Since I am not in Hawaii, seems a good time to get out and connect with sellers, view their homes and make suggestions for improvements prior to listing with me. That's a bit of traffic with me coming and going from my house, when I'm not glued to the computer. So I had a few chances yesterday to shoot photos of the birds in my yard. Can't help myself. ...
Comments 10
By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you
(Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)
I cannot begin to tell you how many clients, as well as other agents, who compliment me because I answer my phone. Which means other agents do not. To me, that is like complimenting me on the color of my eyes, which I can't do anything about. My method of operation is to answer my phone, to be responsive.Just like when I receive an inquiry, I follow up. If it's a buyer, I match the buyer with one of my team members. If that team member cannot acknowledge receipt immediately, it goes to another team member. Clients expect an immediate response, even if it's nothing more than to say yes, I received your message.You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: Sacramento Agents Who Do Not Answer Their Phones.
Comments 29
By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you
(Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)
For some agents, offering full-service in Sacramento real estate means picking up sellers at the airport. That's not an act that is a good use of my time. If a seller really asked me to do that, and not one has, I would arrange for a cab. Notice I did not say "Uber" because that type of service is not what I consider professonal. Uber drivers do not know short cuts and rely solely on GPS. Half the time they don't know where they are going. They routinely get lost. They haven't passed safety classes nor received additional education about their job. You don't even know how long your Uber driver has been licensed to operate a vehicle. Yet, passengers put their lives in these hands in exchange for fast and cheap. Sometimes real estate clients are curious about cheap services, too, but in t...
Comments 10
By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you
(Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)
This topic comes up because the other day I received a purchase contract with a $1,000 earnest money deposit, which was less than 1% of the sales price. And I'm not saying 1% of the sales price is a decent earnest money deposit, either. Just pointing out how danged low that was. Like a throwback to the 1970s.The first thing a listing agent like me thinks is the buyer doesn't have any money. Or, maybe the buyer is just not that committed. It could occur and probably should occur to me that maybe the agent doesn't know what he or she is doing, but that's not a place I always feel comfortable jumping to immediately. You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: What is the Amount of Earnest Money Deposit in Sacramento?
Comments 6
By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you
(Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)
Just so you know, I always tell my sellers who also want to buy: you will have an easier time of it and you'll probably make more money if you sell your house first before buying. If you're worried about having no place to move, don't be, because we will make your sale contingent on finding a new home. This means if you can't find a home you absolutely love and want to buy, you are not required to follow through on the sale of your existing home.Otherwise, if you buy a home first, the liklihood is a) a seller will not take your offer if there is another offer without a contingency to sell and b) you might accept a lower price for your home because you are so excited about buying your new home.But that advice typically falls on deaf ears because sellers almost always want to buy that new...
Comments 9
By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you
(Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)
When I first toured this home, I knew I wanted to list and sell it. Some homes affect an agent that way. I also knew when I walked out of the home and spotted two more Realtors walking up the driveway that they didn't stand a chance. I glanced at them, and they probably noticed my car, since it was blocking the driveway, not to mention my name is on my back license plate.The look that they gave me was priceless. Made me grin ear-to-ear. Because it didn't matter what they could possibly say or present to the sellers, they were wasting their time; this was my listing. How did I know that, you might wonder? It is a very special property, hard to comp due to the magnificent improvements. Those are my specialties. Other agents tend to go by rote. Not me. Every listing is unique, different an...
Comments 5
By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you
(Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)
When I asked an agent in my office who had worked for a variety of other companies which digital signature program she used, she said Digital Ink. The reason she likes Digital Ink is because that's the first program she signed up for and she has an account there. She doesn't want to waste money by signing up for a different digital signature program. Plus, there is always a learning curve with new software, which is why so many offer "classic" versions of software so older people don't have to change or learn something new. You can read more about this discussion in my personal blog today at this link: DocuSign vs Digital Ink for Sacramento Real Estate Agents.
Comments 8
By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you
(Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)
The single biggest issue facing us in Sacramento County right now is we do not have enough homes for sale. We aren't building homes fast enough to meet that demand, nor are we listing enough resale homes to allow move-up buyers to find a home.  Look at that inventory chart! Still a seller's market but we need more listings.I'd venture to guess that 10% of my sales are sellers who want to buy another home. That's really low numbers for this market. My clients become a client for the purposes of disposal and not renewal. It's a dead-end street. At least 10 years ago with all of the short sales one could always figure they would come back when it's time to buy again. But that cycle is not happening.You can read more in my personal blog today and see more stats and my review at this link: M...
Comments 5
By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you
(Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)
Is this not a weird looking insect? I spotted it land on my legal pad yesterday so I had to take a photo of it. It wasn't reacting like a normal kind of fly. It didn't fly away. What kind of fly is this? It seemed very interested in sniffing my legal pad. In particular, the page where I listed my seven open houses for Sunday, with confirmation marks and notes.It is how I track which agent is holding open which home. Whether they have confirmed the opportunity. And it's a great system for me to follow up after the open house to get results. Although one agent yesterday wrote such a detailed report it is now going to pretty much morph into a material fact. I had to tell the person please do not pass along rumors to the listing agent because now I have to pass along a rumor to the buyer. T...
Comments 1
By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you
(Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)
Whenever I see days on market begin to accumulate, I do an indepth analysis of why the home is not immediately selling. This is a hot seller's market in Sacramento. It's one thing to get showings and no offers, and it's quite another to get no showings.This particular property is priced smack dab in the comps. So it's not pricing. I had one agent call me from out of area all excited about seeing the home for himself. Then he called me back and said no, he wasn't interested because there was a home just like it next door, which he saw by googling it. But most agents do not google homes. They just read the listing and go show.However, the minute the tenants moved and limited showings were removed, whammo! Lights, action, camera. You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: Do...
Comments 13
By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you
(Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)
When a buyer's agent in Sacramento heads out to show homes, there are generally two things that could dampen a showing. The first should be getting lost, because that is easy to do. Everybody relies on GPS nowadays so people don't think about where they are going. They rely on an automated system to tell them where to go. But the problem is not really getting lost. The agent generally figures out how to find the house.The first problem is really finding the lockbox and getting it open. Lockboxes are stashed in all sorts of weird locations, and let's not even talk about the sellers who think attaching a lockbox to the gas meter is too vulnerable and asks the listing agent to purposely hide it. But it's the second issue that seems lately to cause the most frustration.You can read more in ...
Comments 15
By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you
(Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)
One of my favorite neighborhoods in Midtown is where Craftsman Row (some call it Bungalow Row) is located. The location is ideal because the traffic is somewhat less than other areas, the streets are wider, and it's still far enough away from Business 80 so you don't hear much of the freeway. A reporter friend from the Sacramento Bee once said the thing she disliked most about living in Sacramento is wherever you went, you could hear the freeways.For me, the thing I dislike the most is 115-degree heat in the summer. But fortunately, it doesn't get that hot all the time. Maybe for 2 or 3 weeks. It is not Palm Springs but close to it. Very dry heat.Midtown also offers a lot of trees, and you can walk almost anywhere. Plethora of restaurants, nightlife, shops, very urban environment. Some ...
Comments 3
By Jumbo Loan Center, Jumbo Loans - Purchase and Refinance
(Jumbo Loan Center)
 If you look back over the last decade, back to 2008, there’s no doubt the real estate market today looks nothing like it did back then. 2008 was really the starting point for the real estate market collapse that many say began in California and spread out. That’s really not true as market conditions in most parts of the country began to falter. But it can certainly be said we had our fair share of price depreciation here in Sacramento and throughout Sacramento County. Over the last 10 years, it appears not only have home prices recovered but they’re on a healthy trend.  This is across all home values from conforming loans to jumbo mortgages.Compared to this time last year, home values have increased by just over 11% as the median home value is around $323,500. Analysts predict this tre...
Comments 0
By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you
(Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)
This is a short sale I started to work on last summer, and it's taken all of this time to get it closed. People always ask me why the banks are so bad when it is not the banks who cause the problem. The problem with all of these short sales that cannot close is buyers walk away right in the middle of negotiations. They say they will wait for approval but they can't.You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: The Story of Closing the Northstead Short Sale in Natomas.
Comments 8
By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you
(Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)
Lately, I've been working with a lot of Sacramento sellers in bereavement. Some grieve because their previous agent could not sell their home, sure, but the bulk of those in grief have lost somebody they love. So that's why they are now selling the house. Real estate can produce a lot of anxiety in sellers all by itself, which is why I believe a listing agent ought to show extra compassion toward those who are suffering a loss. On top of this, most of these types of sales for sellers in bereavement are sold AS IS. The disclosures are typically limited because the seller did not live in the home. When we say AS IS, that's what we mean, but buyers often develop some other kind of warped idea. And if that is not enough, their agents believe that because I am talking with them and being fri...
Comments 7
By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you
(Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)
From a buyer's point of view, I imagine the NACA Program looks pretty darned cool. Bad Credit? NACA don't care. Don't make enough money to meet income requirements? NACA don't care. Haven't got a down payment or closing costs? Hey, NACA don't care.From a seller's point of view, the over-the-top requirements from NACA concerning the condition of the home can be fairly wild. I can see where selling a new home would work. An older home? Well, I reserve judgment on that. Of course, my seller and have only this one bad experience to talk about, which means it's doubtful I will ever see another. You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: What You Don't Know About the NACA Program But Should.
Comments 5
By Lori Mode, Real Estate Made Simple
(The Mode Real Estate Group)
1950's Cottage Style Home | 5417 Carmen Way in Sacramento3 Beds | 1 Bath | 1108 SF | 1950This home in Sacramento 95822 just sold with The Mode & Durham Team at Keller Williams Realty in Elk Grove CA.   We had it on the market 2 days, and got a full price offer!  This area in Sacramento is very desirable, and the details this home offered were too good to pass up! The landscaping was reminiscent of an English garden, and also utilized the style to have no grass to mow or water.  This front yard is a neighborhood favorite!  The kitchen has been updated with modern ameneties, but kept the stove for the charm!  This room has a french door to the back deck, and that cute bay window! Do you have a home to sell in Sacramento?  Get your online home value now! Property Description:To search  Hom...
Comments 3
By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you
(Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)
People often ask me where do I get all of my ideas for writing a daily blog, and it comes from working every day in Sacramento real estate. I have more ideas of things to write about than time to do it. Plus, some of it is unsuitable for the internet, LOL. Although that often doesn't stop me.I field many questions from agents and clients. So many that usually I can pick at least one of those to write about, which is how I came to write my blog for today. My seller wanted to know what I would do to market her home. Mind you, it's already listed and waiting patiently to go live this Friday. I am so excited about her home I can hardly contain my enthusiasm, but I am not marketing this as a Coming Soon, which means you have to wait until Friday morning to hear about that particular storybro...
Comments 4
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