About Sacramento's Land Park

I just listed a new short sale in Land Park yesterday, but before I get to that, let me tell you about a weird thing that happened on Friday. I've never, in all my decades of real estate, experienced this before. A buyer who was supposed to close escrow on a home in South Land Park sent me an email with an attachment. That attachment was a copy of the recording status of the home, and the email asked if the home had recorded. Since I was viewing this on my BlackBerry -- which has very small print on attachments, even if I zoom the image -- I stopped at my home office to look at it on my computer.

Sure enough, the document included a book and page number. But it also had Thursday's date, not Friday's. I contacted title. Whoa. The title company goofed up and recorded the wrong deed. That loan had just funded Friday morning, but title recorded the deed in error on Thursday. This didn't affect my buyers much, but it certainly affects the buyers who thought they had closed escrow on Thursday and probably moved in already. Just goes to show that even title companies make mistakes.

Sometimes, buyers make mistakes as well, especially when they are moving to Land Park from out of the area. Many homes in Land Park are unique, and their values can vary dramatically, depending on a plethora of indicators. That's why it's important to hire an experienced Land Park agent or it's possible that a buyer may overpay for a home here.

Unfortunately, some appraisers have no idea how to appraise a home in Land Park. They don't seem to know where the boundaries are for each subdivision or how crossing some boundaries can have an affect on value. So buyers can't always rely on an appraisal to substantiate value.

The sellers of my new Land Park listing paid $515,000 in the spring of 2005, probably the hottest market ever on record for Land Park. It is presently assessed at $429,236 by the County of Sacramento. So, if you're looking for a short sale in Land Park -- and there are only 3 active short sales available in Land Park at the moment -- you might want to check this out.

1000 Fremont Way is offered as a short sale at $325,000. This Land Park Tudor features 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and according to the County Assessor has 1,471 square feet. It has refinished hardwood floors, barrel ceilings, nooks, crannies, built-ins, crown molding, a fireplace, formal dining room, breakfast nook, master suite, a bonus room off the garage, partial basement and attic storage. It was updated in 2005.

Plus you get boat storage, RV access and a garage that will hold 2 small cars. The back-yard has a covered patio that is made to look like a beach, with a sanded concrete floor, the sides of the overhang adjust and a ceiling fan. There is also a lawn in back that you will never need to mow.

Although the home has an address on Fremont, it actually faces 10th Street, and is a corner lot. But the back yard has a southern exposure. The A/C was new in 2005. It's got everything a Land Park buyer could want.

1000 Fremont Way, Sacramento, CA 95818
Offered exclusively by LYON REAL ESTATE as a short sale at $325,000
Elizabeth Weintraub, Land Park Agent, 916.233.6759

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

Many of us remember Betty White as the conniving Sue Ann Nivens in the Mary Tyler Moore Show or the ditzy Rose Nylund on the Golden Girls. However, in the world of philanthropy and worthwhile causes, she is a caring supporter of pets rights.

So, how excited do you think Sacramentans are that Betty White will be coming to the Sacramento Zoo in Land Park to do a presentation at the new "Tall Wonders Giraffe Exhibit Renovation and Expansion Project? Act quickly, because this Thursday, the 5th of November will be the day! Arrive at 4:30PM to enjoy hors d'oeuvres and cocktails and appreciate all that this regional zoo has to offer! To learn more about this event, click here.

Yesterday, I had 2 closings: one in Curtis Park and another in Carmichael. These listings were not short sales, which in itself is a feat in this market. The bulk of my listings are Sacramento short sales. On top of this, I handled 2 simultaneous home inspections: a home in Land Park and another in South Land Park, plus I conducted a final walk-through of a home in South Land Park. That hectic schedule left me with very little time to play my new computer game: Plants vs. Zombies.

I've made it through all the levels of this game, except for some of the puzzles and mini-games. This is not a mindless game like Bejeweled; it requires strategy. After winning all the levels, some 60 games, I discovered that you can start over at Level I. Because in round two, some of the plants are automatically selected for you, which means you can play Plants vs. Zombies again by implementing a different strategy. It's a bit like selling real estate: although each transaction may have similarities, the mix of clients makes each transaction unique.

At my final walk-through in South Land Park, I spent a little over an hour with a buyer, talking about her new home and the changes she wants to make. It is important to me that all of my buyers are thrilled when escrow closes and that all of their questions are answered.

In this particular situation, the buyer inherited money from her father's estate. This home was her father's final gift to her which, after I said that, brought tears to the buyer's eyes. She expressed a mix of emotions, both very happy and yet a tinge sad.

She was thrilled because the sellers gave her much of the 1960's furniture in the home, she got a good price (while beating out multiple offers) and it was exactly the type of home she wanted. But it's also difficult to get through the first couple of years after losing a parent. Both my husband and I are orphans, so I know how it feels first hand. Often I do a final walk-through in 10 minutes, but this time I felt it was imperative to spend more time in the home and with the buyer.

We talked about what it's like to help a buyer find that perfect home, and I shared examples of the dramatically different types of buyers I'm working with at the moment. She said, "I think you sell homes based on your intuition." She's right, in part. But I also do not think of myself as a person who sells homes. I blurted out: "I don't sell homes to anybody. I simply give buyers what they want."

I thought about that statement as I drove home, with that insane music from Plants vs. Zombies running through my head. Don't you hate it when you get a song stuck in your head and you can't shake it loose? I think that's what makes being a real estate broker so personally rewarding and enjoyable for me. As sappy as it sounds, we do make dreams come true for our clients.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub, Fall in Land Park

Some home buyers and their buyer's agents have not figured out that the entry-level housing market in Sacramento is a seller's market, not a buyer's market. It's a seller's market because inventory -- the number of homes for sale -- has fallen and the number of buyers has increased. Two years ago, we had 14 months of inventory, meaning it would take 14 months to sell every home that is for sale. Now, we have 2 months of inventory. We had 10,454 homes for sale in September of 2007 in Sacramento County. September of 2009 had 3,243.

As a result, some home buyers are writing offer after offer and getting rejected. Part of the reason that these buyers are unable to buy a home in Sacramento is because they are writing offers on the wrong properties. I hate to say this, but the real estate market in Sacramento is not like a Macy's department store. Buyers can not leisurely stroll among the aisles and select merchandise that suits one's fancy. There is no time to casually drape garments over one's arm and ask to be shown the dressing room.

The Sacramento market is like a spring lingerie sale at Victoria's Secret. This is when underwear is dumped on a table at the front door and customers are grabbing, tugging and pulling on the same pair of panties like crazed maniacs, leaving pawed-through scraps for the rest of us. By the time you fight your way to the table, the only pieces left are large-sized, purple-and-pink-flowered panties. And the waistbands are torn.

Here is how I am getting my Sacramento home buyers into escrow:

• Before showing property, I check with the listing agents. I ask how many offers the agent has received and whether there is anything I should know about the property or the sellers that is not noted in MLS. I'm looking for seller motivation. I know that some other agents don't do this because every day I receive a report on my listings. This report shows who has accessed the lockboxes on my Sacramento short sale listings, and many of those listings are active short contingents, meaning we are in escrow. Those agents don't check with me beforehand.
• I look at the tax records to determine how long the seller has owned the property and the likelihood that a lower offer could throw that transaction into short sale status.
• I ask listing agents to delay presentation of an offer until my buyer has a chance to view the property. It's better for the agent's seller if the seller has the opportunity to compare 2 offers.
• I often eliminate those listings that are priced artificially low with few days on market for my FHA and VA buyers, because I know that competition will be fierce and those buyers are likely to lose out to a cash buyer. Instead, I look for overpriced listings with 30 to 60 days or more on market. I look for that diamond in the rough that nobody else can see.
  
• I write very clean offers, including points specified by the listing agent. I present those offers from a position of strength, highlighting why my buyer's offer should be accepted over another's; moreover, I make the listing agent's job easy. When the listing agent isn't faced with extra work and knows the buyer is well qualified and solid, that alone speaks volumes.

If you're looking for homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, East Sacramento, Midtown, South Land Park, or any of the core areas of Sacramento, give me a ring at 916 233 6759. I'd love to help you with your home buying needs in Sacramento.

Sacramento reluctantly welcomed the first storm of our fall / winter rainy season yesterday. Heavy rain flooded streets; wind gusts up to 48 MPH knocked down trees, landing some on top of buildings. Drivers in Midtown Sacramento jammed cars into each other -- one ran a car into a building. It was a wet and wild day.

I spent part of the day trying to re-stake a couple of young trees in my yard in Land Park. The maple tree I had planted 2 years ago in the front yard had lost one of its stakes, and the wind whipped it so hard that I was afraid it would break in two. The ground was soaked to the point that it could not longer support a stake.

My crepe myrtle in the back yard was not faring any better. The winds shook it like a rag doll and slammed branches to the ground. It also lost a stake.

I put on my rain gear and ventured into the elements with a sledge hammer, new stakes and ties. I was able to secure the maple tree, but the stakes for the crepe myrtle were not holding. There was only one thing left to do. Prune the tree.

It was top heavy and loaded with too many branches, spent flowers and leaves. The ground was too wet to set a ladder on it. The legs of the ladder simply sunk into the lake. I found 2 high spots near the tree and laid down a board to support the ladder. Then I climbed up the ladder and clipped like mad.

The poor tree looked like it had received a bad haircut, but at least it stopped hitting the ground. I might have saved its life. As I climbed down the ladder, my cell rang. It was a caller asking me: How are you?

Wet, was my reply. So am I, he said. He went on to explain that he was sitting in his car in front of one of my short sale listings and wanted to know the price of it. I wanted to know why he was driving around in the middle of a storm checking out Sacramento real estate.

I mean, I had an appointment with a tenant of my new listing in East Sacramento to do my agent visual inspection. Both the tenant and I agreed that Tuesday was not a good day to go anywhere if one didn't absolutely need to go outside, and we rescheduled our appointment for today.

But here was this guy watching the rain fall on my For Sale sign and calling me. It's possible he had to resort to this because his ISP was on the blink. Rain tends to knock out service in some areas of Sacramento. Given the choice between looking for homes online or driving rain-soaked streets, I know what I would choose.

At least no trees fell on my home in Land Park, like the birch tree in this photo from January of 2008. But my 5-foot cactus pear collapsed in the back yard. Some of the succulents look smashed this morning. The casualties could have been worse. We have so many stately and older trees in Land Park that every rainstorm seems to claim some of them.

More rain is on its way for today. I'm hoping that the worst of the storm is over and grateful that the homes on my street did not lose power this go-around.