Elizabeth Weintraub, Sacramento Short Sale Agent, 916.233.6759, Lyon RE

I closed 4 escrows last week, so I thought it was a nice gesture to offer to take my husband out to dinner on Halloween. Sort of a celebration. All right, it was also a way that I could cancel Halloween without being obvious about it. But, no, my husband had already carved a pumpkin and bought several bags of candy. OK, then, but I'm not answering the door.

When I was younger, Halloween used to be my favorite holiday, second only to my birthday. I adored the spooky decorations, dressing up like a hooker and partying until somebody passes out in the bathtub. I even once got married on Halloween, but that marriage turned out to be a disaster. As it stands now, I don't seem to possess the enthusiasm for the holiday anymore.

Instead of celebrating Halloween yesterday, I managed to score the keys from a tenant for my East Sacramento listing. At long last, I was able to put a lockbox on that house. If you're looking for a home in East Sacramento, check out 763 53rd Street. It's a darling 2-bedroom cottage listed at $329,000, and it's now vacant. It's not a short sale, either. This could close by November 30th.

Saturdays are also lockbox day for me, meaning I map out my travels and collect lockboxes from the homes that closed escrow that week. While I'm driving, I answer buyer and buyer's agent calls. One agent sent me an email, saying her buyer wanted to withdraw a short sale offer she submitted the day before because her buyer was uncomfortable with the fact that we expected the buyer to commit to the transaction.

This was a buyer, the agent had earlier confided, who had made dozens of offers on other homes and kept getting beat out. Well, she could buy one of my short sale listings as it just fell out of escrow. I told her exactly what her buyer needed to do to get the seller's signature on the offer. But did she do it? No, she didn't. She was missing that crucial element: the motivation to be dedicated and wait for short sale approval.

There were enough witches, goblins, skeletons and Richard Nixons running around last night; I have no desire to add another to my escrows.

Ever since I lost a short sale to the auction block in 2006, I've been trying to keep tabs on the foreclosure activity regarding my Sacramento short sales. On that particular transaction, we were in the middle of negotiations with Bank of America when the next thing I knew, an agent called to say he had just listed that home in Land Park as an REO. Apparently, the loss mitigation department had not been communicating with Bank of America's foreclosure department. But sometimes negotiators simply close out files and don't inform the agents.

My first clue that something was amiss was when a woman called me yesterday. She asked for a copy of the home inspection for one of my short sale listings. I told her it was in escrow as an active short contingent and not available. Then she turned a bit snippy, insisting that she was entitled to a copy of the home inspection, as though this information was a public record.

No, only the seller and buyer are entitled to receive the home inspection. She has no rights because she is not a party to the transaction. She called me a 5-letter word and slammed down the phone.

Hmmm . . . why would a rude person demand to see a copy of the home inspection on a listing? Perhaps a person bidding at a public auction who thinks I represent the bank, that's who.

The next phone call came from a very nice guy who says he has purchased 54 homes in Sacramento so far this year. He began asking questions about this particular listing. He seemed focused on its physical condition. When I told him it was in escrow, he said it was up for an opening bid at the public auction at my list price!

An email had been sent to the negotiator at Wells Fargo, letting the negotiator know that the buyers and sellers had accepted Wells Fargo's terms, and we were ready to move forward. Apparently, Wells Fargo somehow let this one slip through the cracks and instead sent it to auction.

After much screaming at Wells Fargo, we were able to get the property pulled from the auction. Out of the fire at the last minute. This was similar to planting a squash on top of a football zombie just before the zombie eats my brains in Plants vs. Zombies.

Within minutes of halting the bidding process, the investor called back. He seemed impressed, pointing out that I must not be your average Sacramento short sale agent. He asked if I would let him know if any of my bunch of active short contingents fall out of escrow or when I list other short sales in Sacramento. You know what? I will. If you're reading this, thank you, Bob.

In the world of a Sacramento short sale agent, there is no such thing as a normal workday. Every day has its little frustrations. People may make promises that they don't keep. Other people might be unreasonable and demanding. I may explain 10 ways from Sunday how to submit an offer to a buyer's agent, yet the offer arrives incomplete. It's just another day in the neighborhood. I let this stuff roll off my back and focus on the big picture, on what's important.

My focus is the people, my home sellers and home buyers. Today, a Sacramento short sale seller is scheduled to close on an escrow that has been dragging on for 9 long months. He will finally be able to let go of the past and move on with his life. His focus is on his children, wife, friends, family and his own clients, the people who are important to him. It's not the SMUD lien for dual pane windows that was attached to his home and would have survived a foreclosure, which we managed to get released. It's not the fact that he tried to sell this home for several years without success. And it's not the fact that he tried for months to do a loan modification but was denied.

He gets to start over, keep his credit relatively intact and enjoy the peace of mind that comes when a new family is starting its beginnings in the home he left behind. When the new buyers get the keys tonight, their faces will be brimming with smiles and their hearts filled with hope.

With any luck, also today an Elk Grove short sale seller will be putting his past behind him as well. His escrow was supposed to have closed last week, but the buyer's lender kept popping up with more loan conditions. The latest demand was a request for an addendum that clarified the ZIP code. Apparently, the buyer's agent wrote the wrong ZIP code on several pages of the purchase contract.

The seller of this short sale was never delinquent; his payments were current. Yet, it took us 3 months to go from listing the home to closing. However long, the wait for short sale approval is rarely an enjoyable experience for either sellers or buyers. 90 days is still a long time.

I wrapped up both of these transactions last night and settled in to watch a movie with my husband. Netflix sent us the new Blu-Ray version of the Wizard of Oz. Now, I've probably watched this movie 100 times over the years; it's one of my all-time favorites. So, when I received an email with an offer attached, I got up to open my email and my husband paused the movie. Hey, it's not like I don't know what happens in the movie. But my husband paused it anyway.

It was certainly a far cry from the days of waiting through commercials on a black-and-white TV. Watching Dorothy and Toto on the big screen in vibrant color is astounding. In fact, we spotted things in the movie that we've never seen before such as the bricks in the yellow brick road were clearly defined and, for some reason, in the scene where Dorothy and the Scarerow discovered the Tin Man rusted in the woods, there was a large stork or blue heron flapping its wings in the background. Near the apple trees, a toucan rested on a branch over Dorothy's head. Made me think about Fruit Loops.

But Dorothy's quest to go home also made me think about my sellers and buyers. We all want a place to call home, a place where we feel loved and secure. So, today, 2 families are leaving their homes and 2 other families are moving in. The buyers will be overjoyed and the sellers relieved. And several years from now, those same sellers will most likely call me to help them buy another home, and I will watch them click together heels of ruby slippers and go there. After all, there's no place like home, is there?

This doesn't happen very often, thank goodness, but yesterday a short sale buyer flaked out. I had called a Sacramento agent to let him know that Chase Bank was about to approve a short sale for his buyer. The agent blurted, "Oh, that buyer bought a home last month." Bear in mind that we've sent communication to this agent since the offer was presented in early August.

At first, the agent could not recall the buyer at all. Well, no problem, we have a back-up offer. I called that agent. Her buyer had withdrawn her offer as well but she did not contact me to let me know.

Minutes after taking the home out of active short contingent status in MLS and returning it to active short status, I received a call from a buyer's agent who has been unsuccessful at finding a home for her buyer. It was a familiar story. Every time she wrote an offer, a cash buyer beat out her buyer's offer. So, this particular Sacramento short sale may be perfect for this buyer.

Fortunately, I have an assistant to the negotiator expediting this file and know exactly what Chase Bank wants. I relayed this information to the buyer's agent. This means there should be no surprises on the short sale approval letter.

The biggest problem I face as a Sacramento short sale agent is buyer's agents and their buyers. Some of the agents write offers like crazy with no intention of following up on them, leaving those buyers with little commitment to the transaction. As a result, I now require that all buyer's agents send me an email promising not to write any more offers for that buyer and to withdraw any outstanding offers upon acceptance. Article #1 of the REALTOR Code of Ethics requires honesty. Those who violate that promise could find themselves facing discipline by the Board of REALTORS.

But for crying out loud, Sacramento agents, if your buyer walks away, have the decency and professionalism to inform the listing agent. To do otherwise is disrespectful and unfair to the seller, the title company, the escrow company, the short sale bank, the transaction coordinator and the listing agent.

Some agents don't go to closings with their clients, but I always try to attend. I believe it's important to be at the signing with my clients because they might have questions, and because I like to show my support. To me, it's part of my job. After all, if I've helped my clients get that far in the escrow process, why would I flake out at the time of signing when they may still need my services?

If the escrow company, which the seller's agent has chosen (services are supposed to be negotiated between the seller and buyer, but we all know that many listing agents seize that power), is located more than 20 minutes away from downtown Sacramento, I often ask the escrow officer to send the documents to a local office. It saves both my clients and me precious time.

I attended a closing yesterday that was handled by an escrow officer from another county. I had asked her last week to send the documents to a Sacramento branch office, which she had received back from one of the out-of-state buyers on Monday. She called me to say she wasn't sure if the address I had for the title company was correct because that office had just moved. She promised to verify the address and let me know. Well, she never called back.

So I called the title company myself to verify the address. I thought it was strange that the escrow officer did not overnight the docs to title but instead brought them herself to Sacramento. But I figured if she forgot to call me back, she might have forgotten to put the docs into an overnight service, so she had no choice but to personally deliver the docs.

She started the signing process by telling the buyer that a particular document did not apply to his situation; he wasn't required to sign it, so she didn't need to explain it. Then she went on to explain it. For 10 minutes. The buyer began to shift in his chair. So, I cut to the chase and summed up the explanation in one brief sentence.

Then she pulled out a form designating ways to hold title and noted that the buyer's mother had chosen community property. She began to explain the meaning of community property. In the interest of time, I interrupted her. "Isn't community property available only to married people?"

The escrow officer replied, "No, I don't believe so." See, there are valid reasons why it's important to attend a real estate closing with a client. If your Sacramento real estate agent isn't present at your closing, you might want to ask why not.