About Sacramento's Land Park

Whenever my neighbor goes on vacation, she asks me to watch her house and pick up the mail from her front steps. This is such a quaint custom in Land Park -- throwing mail on the porch when there's too much or it's too big to stuff into the mail slot. Mail carriers in other parts of Sacramento often stick oversized mail inside the screen door, but not here. Our mail is tossed on the porch like a dead squirrel.

When my neighbor's husband was killed suddenly in a tragic car accident on the W-X freeway, my husband and I were there for her. We invited her grieving family over to our home for dinner, attended the funeral and the year-later celebration. We shared photos of our vacations, vegetables from our gardens and stories of our days.

I had listed her Land Park home a while back. After a few weeks of showings, she asked why her home wasn't selling, and I leveled with her. She needed to take down the paneling in the living room, remove her heavy drapes from the windows and install plantation shutters, take up the carpeting and refinish the hardwood floors, scrape the acoustic ceiling, and paint everything in tones of coffee and cream.

We took the listing temporarily off the market, she hired contractors and did the work. Her home was transformed. Afterward, I sensed that something was bothering her, so I asked what was wrong. She blurted out: "My home is so beautiful I no longer want to sell it." That's all right. I understood. I canceled the listing. It's common for people to feel seller's remorse. Besides, I was relieved she wasn't moving.

My neighbor called yesterday. She asked if I could take a break and come over. Something was up. We talked about her recent vacation. She showed me photos of her granddaughter. Then she dropped the bomb. It was prefaced by: "I don't want you to be mad," and I knew what was coming. Yup, her daughter in Los Angeles knows this guy, a friend of her uncle's cousin or something. He has a real estate license. About 1 in every 35 people in California has a real estate license.

There will be no for sale sign in the yard. And if he can't sell her home in a few months, she'll give the listing to me. This plan makes about as much sense as banging your head against a wall because it feels so good when you stop. Her daughter wants the business to stay in the family. After all, she says, this guy sold one home this year, a home south of Florin in a week. To her daughter, he's perfectly qualified to sell homes in Land Park because he is family. She doesn't believe they need a Land Park agent yet, much less an agent who has already sold $11 million this year.

You know what? Friends come first. Even misguided friends. I don't need to take every listing on my street. Seven years ago, when I moved to Land Park, I might have felt differently, but not today. So, I hugged her, promised to get her information on transferring her tax base and went home, feeling very sad that my friend is moving away. I'm going to miss her.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub

I closed a couple more escrows in Sacramento yesterday. One was in Natomas, which was a Wachovia short sale, and I represented the seller. The other was for buyers who had spent a long time looking at homes in Land Park until I suggested they consider a particular home that met their needs. The negotiations for that home were a bit tough because the buyers were not paying anywhere near the list price, and we ran into a snag at closing because the seller could not wire funds to escrow before the buyers' loan lock expired, but we closed on schedule.

This was a situation in which the seller paid to close. It wasn't a short sale. And the home wasn't upside down. It most likely would have sold for more if it had been priced right in the first place, but it wasn't. After a home sits on the market for a while, it begins to lose its desirability, especially in Land Park. When you have an overpriced listing and it's dated, Land Park agents often stop showing those homes.

I stood on the front steps, waiting for the buyers. It was a tad brisk, the sun was sinking, leaves twirled in the street. From the porch, I could see the home my former neighbors had renovated one street over. All the homes on this street are unique, filled with vintage details, oozing architectural detail, some dating back to the Roaring 20s. I imagined horse-drawn carriages clip-clopping down the street through the leaves. Then my buyers pulled up.

It's hard to know which person in a couple should receive the keys, so I always ask, because often it's not the person I spend the most time talking to throughout the transaction. When I handed the keys to the wife, her eyes teared up, and she had this expression on her face like her heart had stopped. This home was absolutely her dream, and it was now a reality. These are the moments that add the icing to the cake in my profession.

Her husband turned to thank me and said the reason they chose me to help them buy a home in Land Park was because being a Land Park agent is not just a job to me. They chose me because I am passionate about my job, because I love what I do and, apparently, it shows.

It made me think back to my childhood. When I was about 7, I turned a sandbox into a playhouse. Decorated it with curtains, and furnished it with miniature chairs and a plastic kitchen table. At that age, I used to grab scraps of drywall from nearby construction and draw floorplans in the street. One day my sister sat in the street clutching her teddy bear and watching me draw a house. I drew bedrooms and put in doorways.

After I finished, I wanted to go play in the woods, but my sister was reluctant to come because she didn't want to drag her teddy bear along. Hey, I told her, we'll just put your teddy bear in the bedroom and go. So, she left it in the street. Needless to say, it wasn't there when we came back.

Life coach experts say that if you're struggling with life decisions -- trying to figure out what kind of job you should do, what your calling is in life -- you should look at your childhood because the answers are there. I went into real estate full-time in my mid-20s. I've completed countless college courses in real estate, worked as a title searcher, escrow officer, real estate agent and real estate broker; I have owned my own brokerage in Newport Beach, years before moving to Sacramento and joining Lyon Real Estate.

I've been through down markets, rising markets, crazy high-interest rate markets, had good times and times that I struggled, but I could not imagine myself doing anything else apart from real estate. I think it's the best job in the world.

An agent asked me yesterday, "How come every time I call you, you're so upbeat and chipper?" Well, because I am doing what I love. Because I have a choice in my attitude. Because I can make a difference in other people's lives by helping them to sell or buy a home. And because after all these years, I'm good at it. Real estate is my calling. What's not to be happy about?

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