About Sacramento's Land Park

One of the things I really like about taking a Sacramento short sale listing is the fact that few sellers expect a listing presentation. Even when I list homes in Land Park, for example -- in situations where sellers are generally not upside down -- many of those sellers follow the market so closely that they have no interest in examining the comparable sales.

Some Land Park home owners don't even want to hear about my marketing plan -- they simply want me to help them stage the home, price it competitively and get it sold. So, that's what I do. I work at the direction of my clients.

I listed a Sacramento short sale in Rosemont yesterday, which is a rental, owned by a lawyer. The seller made an appointment to meet me at the property at 12:15. At 12:30, the seller was out the door, with all copies of her listing agreement and paperwork in hand, leaving me with the tenant. Fastest listing I've ever taken.

For some reason, I seem to have an unusual number of clients who are lawyers lately, and most of them are not necessarily short sale clients, either. Unlike some agents, I love working with lawyers. We're on the same wave length.

Dealing with tenants, though, can sometimes present challenges. I understand how tenants feel when they're hit upside the head with the fact strangers will now be traipsing through their home and their lives will be disrupted, not to mention having a For Sale sign planted in their yard. This activity is stressful enough when it's the seller who occupies the home, but in most cases the seller gets something out of the sale. There is usually no benefit for the tenant to cooperate, and some refuse.

The tenant approached me cautiously. She asked how much notice she would receive before having to show the home. I noted the apprehension in her face. So, I replied, "You tell me. I want to make this as easy as possible for you." I don't believe she was expecting that response. I explained safety issues, how agents work, how I can track every agent through the SUPRA lockbox.

Then I walked into the family room, taking notes for my agent inspection. In the corner, I spotted a monitor with the screen on pause. Aha. I immediately recognized the computer game and began to laugh. The tenant looked at me like I was loopy. You see, I can proudly say that I am a Zuma master. "There is an end to this madness," I chuckled. "What level are you at?" Ah, 5-3. That's a really hard level. I got stuck for a while there, too.

From that point forward, the tenant was very cooperative. Because real estate is a people business, you know. It's not all market stats and numbers. Every week I get to meet new people and form a rapport. I couldn't see myself in any other business -- well, maybe a home improvement TV star, but that's not gonna happen.

If you're looking for a Sacramento short sale agent or need to list or buy a home in Land Park (or surrounding areas), give me a ring. I'd love to meet you.

The last time it rained in Sacramento this year was probably in May, but I would not be surprised if it rained this morning. I can see lightning to the west, and the breezes abruptly changed from an almost uncomfortable and muggy heat to much cooler air over the past hour. Plus, dark clouds are rolling in.

That may be good news to some in Sacramento but it's not to me because I don't need rain at the moment on my lawn. We're trying to kill our lawn. It looks like a desert right now, brown and crunchy. Kevin, our landscaping guy, came over yesterday. He had hoped to dig up the lawn today but he says there are still green spots. That stubborn Bermuda grass doesn't want to give up life. So, we will need to wait at least another week to re-sod.

My former neighbor moved over to Bidwell a couple years ago and put in a new lawn after remodeling his home in Land Park. He told me last week that his lawn is beginning to show signs of weeds because the lawn mower guys drop seeds in it after mowing the neighbor's lawns. I guess the stuff sticks in the mower blades and transfers from lawn to lawn.

I can't see myself mowing our lawn. First, I'd have to take in the lawn mower to get it tuned up and the blades sharpened. It's not gonna fit in my roadster. Then, I'd have to be willing to get out there at least one day a week to mow my lawn. With my busy schedule, that's unlikely. In fact, I'm off this morning to list yet another short sale in Sacramento. Hmmm. It's not as though I can tell the lawn mowing guys that I don't want them using their contaminated lawn mower in my yard and ask them to use ours. Can I? Or is that a goofy idea?

Perhaps it's a Midwestern thing, dating back to my childhood in Minnesota. Whenever my mother needed something in a hurry, she would send us kids down to what she called the "corner grocery store." The store was not located on a corner and was about a mile from our house. But wherever we lived in Minneapolis, the neighborhood always had a corner grocery store where we could go for emergency supplies.

I have a corner grocery store near my home in Land Park, too. This store is even located on a corner. It's closer than driving to Walgreens on Broadway. I imagine the clerk behind the counter yesterday afternoon may have wondered why I was buying 3 huge bottles of nail polish remover. Most of the clientele for this store buy individual cans of beer or bags of potato chips. Hey, I watch AMC's Breaking Bad. So, I know that clerks sometimes report customers who buy unusual quantities of certain types of products to the police.

I then rushed back home to hand the bottles of acetone to my husband. He was frantically scrubbing the tile floor in the family room. Want to know why?

My manicurist, Rosa, works at a nail salon just past William Land Park on Freeport. This salon is where a few other Lyon real estate agents go to get their nails done. Rosa always slips my bottle of nail polish, emery board and file sponge into a plastic baggie and drops it in my bag after doing my nails. When I came home from my nail appointment yesterday, I tried to carefully extract this plastic baggie from my bag without messing up my nails.

Well, the baggie was not sealed. The bottle of nail polish crashed to the tiled floor and shattered, spraying red nail polish on the floor, our Oriental rug and my Coach bag. How many things can I ruin at once? Never in my 57 years of life have I broken a bottle of nail polish.

Since my nails were still wet, I couldn't clean it up. I screamed for my husband to help. First priority was to get the polish off the tiled floor before it soaked into the grout or permanently stained the tiles. Second was my Coach bag. I suspect the lifetime warranty for these bags doesn't offer protection when its owner dumps nail polish on it.

The rug? Well, my husband pointed out that I've been yakking about buying a new sofa. Knowing me as well as he does, he says I'll want to buy a new rug anyway. It's the way the world of home improvement works. Soon as you fix or replace something, other items start to talk to you. They say, "Hey, what about me? Am I not an eyesore, too?"

This morning I discovered that our cat, Pia, has a long red whisker. She has a few dried red hairs on her back, too. I can clip those, but I think I had better leave Pia's whisker alone and wait for it to fall out.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub

When I closed escrow on my home in Land Park, the listing agent forgot about the lockbox on my railing. He never came over to pick it up. So, after a month or so, I hauled out my trusty reciprocating saw and cut it off the rail. Just in case you ever have to do this, let me tell you that the shackle steel is really hard, and it can take a long time to cut through it.

Most of the time, when escrows close in Sacramento, the listing agent immediately removes the lockbox. If the buyer's agent doesn't pick up the key fast enough, the listing agent leaves the key somewhere on the property: either under the mat, in the electrical box or, sometimes, the agent unlocks the house and leaves the key on the counter.

After a closing last Friday, a Land Park agent left the key in the garage, inside a drawer. It would have been better to have dropped the key at my other office in Land Park. I get nervous when doors are left unlocked or a key is left in an easily accessible spot.

But after another closing yesterday, I showed up at a home on Castro Way to give the buyer the key and the lockbox was gone. We looked in the usual places, but there was no key. I called the listing agent, received voice mail and left a message. The buyer and I continued to search for the key. I called the listing agent again. This time she answered her cell. Where are the keys?

They were left at the title company. Well, that was a goofy place to leave them, why did she do that? We used to take keys to title many years ago, but not anymore.

The agent said the keys were supposed to have been delivered at signing. Except nobody told us at signing that anybody had the keys. She continued to defend that practice by saying sometimes agents pick up the keys at title when they pick up their commission check. Except who goes to title these days to pick up a check? Title companies deliver the closing package and commission checks to the brokerage.

Fortunately, the buyer knew how to change the locks, and we were able to gain access. And at least there wasn't a lockbox left behind that he had to cut off.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub

The Land Park Community Association is hosting the 9th Annual "Taste of Land Park" on September 27th from 4-7PM! Walk or ride your bike to 17th Street between 11th Avenue and 13th Avenue to enjoy a great evening!

The "Taste" will have approximately 25 excellent wineries and breweries with local establishments taking a starring role! Well known favorites from Clarksburg, Plymouth and surrounding foothill wineries as well as Napa will be pouring their favorite wines. There will also be local breweries sharing their favorites.

Along with the great beverages will be approximately 12 of our local restaurants. Here is an opportunity to taste the chef's favorites and savor their spectacular goodies!

Add to all of this the camaraderie of neighbors and friends chatting and laughing under the canopy of Land Park's beautiful trees and the Delta breezes and you just can't lose! For more information and to purchase tickets, just click here to learn more!