elk grove agent

Elk Grove Real Estate and the Flu

Elk Grove Real Estate And The Flu

Elk Grove real estate and the flu go forward, no matter how sick a Realtor gets, the show must go on. When your immune system is on the blink, creativity for writing has not been accessible. I apologize for missing our daily posts and will be adding some blasts from the past postings that are still relevant today.

I may have missed writing the blogs, but we have not let our clients down. We sold several listings in the greater Sacramento area this week. When you have a team, there is an arsenal of resources available. There have been many challenges with home inspections and appraisals but we kept the wheels moving forward.

When you are sick and can’t leave the house for ten days, you really start to see how we take good health for granted. Elk Grove real estate and the flu have a few things in common, they are both relentless. Real estate has a life of its own. The buyer’s agent on the other side of our escrows is working with their buyer to advance the escrow. The appraisers and title officers are each working on our files, calling and emailing. Our full-time assistant Adina, and our transaction coordinator, Roxanne, are always both working to help our clients.

Another talented part of our team is our buyer’s agents, Josh and Barbara. These two are assisting with our listings and taking phone calls for whatever is needed. So many things all going on at the same time and our email inbox are on 24 / 7. When running a successful real estate business, having a team of highly qualified professionals is why we deliver white-glove service, no matter what the challenges.

I have never been bored all these many years of my career. There is always more to do. So many exciting business plans to implement. I keep hoping this flu will get the message and go home to whereever it came from.

The show must go on no matter what the circumstances. People hire us as they know they can count on us to show up to do the work every day, even when it is challenging. There is no sick leave when you own your own business. Even if there was paid time off, we would never let our clients down.

If you want to sell or buy your home and want to have the peace of mind to know we never stop working, call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors, with RE/MAX Gold. We can be reached at 916-233-6759.

–JaCi Wallace

JaCi Wallace
Weintraub & Wallace

Elk Grove Realtor Closes Home Clawed By Bears

elk grove realtor

A bear’s claws are capable of ripping off siding from a home in Elk Grove.

Among our closings from yesterday, the most intense for this Elk Grove Realtor was the home that looked like it was clawed by bears. People are often amazed that there is a market for this type of fixer home. But those people are not in real estate. Those of us in real estate understand how much demand there is for this type of property because we sell all types of homes, not just the pretty, updated, historic residences in Midtown,  or the luxury homes in Sacramento. We also deal in the gritty stuff because, bottom line, it’s all just a product.

Wearing my Tori Burch high heels, I climbed over piles of garbage to shoot photos. The home had basically been abandoned for more than a year, until such time that the seller felt equipped to deal with the sale. We expected to receive the highest price possible, which meant positioning the home for multiple offers. This meant accurately describing the condition of this home to attract the types of buyers who love buying fixers.

Knowing my target audience is always the first rule to crafting a marketing description for this Elk Grove Realtor. I try to be creative, to attract attention, sometimes to entertain, depending on the purpose. I want agents excited about showing the home, regardless of its condition, and hauling over buyers. What you, the reader, might feel is unorthodox, is what often works for me. I pull out all the stops for my listings. Each is unique. I can admit this, the office assistants at Lyon got a kick out of entering this listing into MLS.

The following was my marketing description, and it’s extremely accurate:

We are amazed the home is still standing. The exterior siding looks like bears attacked. Stuff is growing inside on the walls. “Needs a new roof” is putting it mildly. Garbage, debris, unidentifiable glops cover the flooring and the floor that is visible is torn, stained and mutilated. Water damage. Trash from one end to the other. Should probably be gutted. Use caution, home is uninhabitable and most likely dangerous to your health. A good fixer for some lucky buyer with vision for its potential.

Lest you think, who would buy that monstrosity, this Elk Grove Realtor received dozens of inquiries and many purchase offers for her seller to consider. Calls continued for weeks after we went into pending status. If you’re looking for a dedicated Elk Grove Realtor who pays extreme attention to detail with a solid reputation for selling homes at top dollar, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.

Pool Home Open House on Laguna Shore in Elk Grove Today

pool home in elk grove

5817 Laguna Shore Way, Elk Grove, CA 95758

Everybody who is out house hunting today looking at homes in Elk Grove realizes the inventory is fairly thin, and the competition is fierce. The good news is we about to present a fabulous listing, a pool home open house on Laguna Shore in the popular Laguna Villa neighborhood of Elk Grove. It’s a new listing that just hit the market on Friday, and it’s spectacular.

For starters, this is one of the very few homes ever built by the late Buzz Oates, a leading commercial developer in Sacramento. When you pull up to the home, the first thing you notice is its cute curb appeal, the brick columns strategically placed, and the large lot size, which faces south. Inside, you will fall in love with the layout. The living room is a step-down and the formal dining area is raised, with vaults and lots of light.

The oversized updated kitchen is open to the family room, which is also vaulted. Not only will you find a fireplace in the family room, but there is another fireplace upstairs in the master suite, in addition to built-in cabinets and bookcases.

If you were to ask me what is the one thing that today’s home buyers really want in a two-story home, it’s a first-floor bedroom and full bath, which you’ll be pleased to see this home has. There are 3 more bedrooms upstairs.

Go out back and you’ll love the raised composite deck, designed to resist weather, and the gorgeous inground pool as blue as blue can be. Beautiful trees line the back fence and provide privacy. 5817 Laguna Shore Way, Elk Grove, CA 95758 is offered exclusively by Elizabeth Weintraub at Lyon Real Estate, 916.233.6759. $365K.

The open house on Laguna Shore is Sunday, September 20, 2015 from 2:00 to 4:00 PM by the amazing Josh Amolsch from the Elizabeth Weintraub Team, 916.224.2756.

pool home in Laguna Villa

Large back yard with raised deck and pool at 5817 Laguna Shore Way in Elk Grove, CA

Open House Sunday at Home in Laguna West

home for sale in laguna west

9138 Bearint Way in Laguna West

This part of Elk Grove features meticulously spaced trees, growing inside rectangular borders in the streets, which lends a nice flavor to these particular homes in Laguna West, and many of the streets are wider than normal. A bonus perk to many of these homes is alley access through double gates to the RV parking available in the back yard. Or, you can simply pull through the 3-car tandem garage and park your boat or camper on the slab out back. Few homes in Laguna West offer the RV option, but you’re in luck today.

Open today is a home in Laguna West with 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, and all of the bedrooms are located on the second floor, freeing the lower level for entertainment and dining. The sellers installed an expensive double door to the exterior and removed the ugly sliding door prevalent in so many other homes from the kitchen. They also laid custom pavers in the kitchen and bath, and coordinated the complementary backsplash in tile, including the fireplace surround.

kitchen and family room combo

Updated kitchen at 9138 Bearint Way in Laguna West

This home in Laguna West is situated up a hill. The kitchen and family room are open and visible from the front door as you enter the living room. There is an island in the kitchen, offering a dining bar option, and a breakfast nook. Appliances feature a built-in gas cooktop, double-racked oven, built-in microwave and a dishwasher.

Upstairs you’ll find a bonus room at the top of the second floor, which has a door (as opposed to many bonus rooms that are open) and the open walls have been closed in with materials lending an Asian flair. In fact, it could be a 5th bedroom if one so desires. The master suite is located at the back of the home and it overlooks the patios below, featuring double walk-in closets. Of course, there are double vanities in the master suite bath, a full-sized tub and separate shower.

9138 Bearint Way, Elk Grove, CA 95758. Open Sunday, June 14, 2015, 2:00 to 4:00. This home in Laguna West is offered exclusively by your Elk Grove agent Elizabeth Weintraub at Lyon Real Estate as a short sale at $389K.

How to Close $2 Million in Sales in Sacramento in One Day

$2 million in sales

Closing $2 million in sales in one day in Sacramento is remarkable

A milestone day happened yesterday that is very rare in my end of the Sacramento real estate market and, in fact, I wouldn’t have even known that it happened if escrow had not pointed it out to me. Most of the listings that I take and sell, for example, fall within a wide range of price points, but I’m betting the mid-range of prices for homes in Sacramento is around $300K to $500K. Not only was it a surprise, but it was an odd feeling when escrow mentioned I was about to close $2 million in sales in one day. What? $2 million in sales for Sacramento home sales in one day?

All the home sales were very different from each other. One of the homes was one of those custom magnificent homes in Davis, which sold for $1.5m, so that home sale took up a big chunk of my $2 million in sales volume. An agent in Davis called last week to drill me about the buyer for this home. She wanted to know if there was financing, if the home appraised at the sales price, and insinuated it was overpriced. On top of which, she asked if the buyer was from out-of-the-area, i.e. Bay area, implying that a local buyer must not be in escrow. What business is it of hers where the buyer is from? She has no business knowing any of these details. I am generally not authorized to release personal information about pending transactions, so I was forced to deny her request.

Of course, it did close at list price, which might shake up some in Davis. My duty is to my seller. That home probably set a new high for Central Davis. Part of my $2 million in sales.

My second closing was a condo in West Sacramento, a short sale, which I have had the pleasure of selling 3 different times to 3 different buyers. Every time I got the short sale approval letter, the buyers were not in a position, for whatever reason, to close. It also involved years of delinquent HOA dues, and difficult negotiations between two separate HOA companies. The seller had been unable to get either of the HOAs to work with her and thought for certain she was destined for foreclosure. But she kept the faith and continued to work with me until we found a buyer who would stick it through. She got her short sale and did not have to face foreclosure.

I’ll probably get a Christmas card from that seller every year until I die.

The third closing was in my favorite stomping grounds, among homes in Elk Grove. For some unexplained reason, I sell a lot of homes in Elk Grove. When the seller and I examined the comparable sales, the top price we could justify for this particular home was a little bit below our list price.  Listing homes is a little bit like going fishing, throw that line out there and bam, got a bite, reeled in the buyer and we went into escrow. The next day, the buyer freaked out and canceled.

We were NOT returning the listing to active status as a “back on market” listing, because perception is often the home is damaged in some way. We pulled a new MLS number and started over. This time, we got a bigger fish, and we pushed that price up another 2%. The buyer’s agent thought I was pretty mean because I shot down his idea of negotiating a request for repair, but we were clear at inception the home was sold AS IS. As a result, we don’t care what sort of defects they found on the home inspection — they were closing on a home in a limited inventory market when many other prospective home buyers in Elk Grove cannot buy a home at all.

When I look over transactions like these and the work that I have done for my clients, I feel gratified. I feel as though I have justified once again that sellers are better off hiring a full-service Sacramento Realtor who produces results. I earn my commissions. If you ask my sellers, they will agree. It’s also entirely possible that I never again will close $2 million in sales for Sacramento home sales in one day.

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