Elizabeth Weintraub • Sacramento Short Sale Agent • Land Park

With the exception of one, many of my favorite t-shirts are those with nothing on them. I have nothing I need to announce to the world except perhaps "go away," and I haven't found one of those yet. I feel no compulsion to advertise a major corporation: "Look at me, I can afford to wear this designer shirt with a big fat logo on it; you should buy one too." It would be different were I employed at, say, Gucci, but I'm not.

I don't much care for rock concert t-shirts, although I will admit to owning a U2 from a 2005 concert where apparently I was caught up in the moment when I forked over my credit card to pay $40 for a stupid shirt. It's only cotton, for crying out loud, and $40 is too much to pay for a t-shirt.

Still, every time I go on vacation, I buy t-shirts as souvenirs. Not loud, noisy t-shirts imprinted with such boastful messages as those depicting super powers or cartoons (but I do own a South Park t-shirt) or even sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, but those with the name of a national park, perhaps, embroidered along the hem.

They make up for my favorite all-time t-shirt, which I wear at least once a week. It's gray cotton, imprinted with large, black, block letters on the front that read:

DO I LOOK

LIKE A

PEOPLE PERSON

TO YOU?

I found it one day wandering through Target, of all places. Only $9.99. In hindsight, I should have bought them all. A woman got on the elevator with me yesterday morning, eyed me once over and snorted, "I liked your other shirt better." The shirt I was now wearing had no letters, no pictures, nothing, it was just a plain, gray t-shirt. Sometimes people feel it's necessary to comment on clothing you're not wearing.

Like my sister. She was on her way to brunch yesterday, merrily strolling down the hallway toward the elevators, when she discovered that her dress was on inside out. She looked around. Nobody was coming, so she peeled off her dress just as a woman opened her hotel door, got a glimpse of my sister with the dress over her head and quickly slammed the door again. Can't you hear her? "Harry, you think what you saw at the elevator yesterday was . . ."

Here are photos of the eastern and northern shores of Kauai:

Even though it's two hours earlier in Kauai, it's hard to wake up in the morning. Yesterday, I rolled out of bed, grabbed a cup of coffee and meandered out to the balcony so I wouldn't wake my husband while I posted my blog. It took about 10 minutes to post a few photos, and then I decided I should read the morning newspaper.

Without being fully awake, I opened the hotel room door, stuck a book in it so it wouldn't close on me -- the last thing my husband needed to hear was BRRRR-BEEP if I used my card key -- and wandered into the elevator lobby. Where were they? I wasn't quite awake, but I knew there was a stack of newspapers there somewhere.

I spied them. On the table near the elevator -- where all those people were standing and waiting. EEEkkk. I was dressed in my nightshirt. Oh, well, when you're in these situations, it's best to act like you are the normal person and nothing is weird. So, I grabbed the newspaper from the top of the pile and flashed the group a broad smile, saying, "Good morning, everybody!"

It was then that I realized not only was I dressed in a nightshirt -- and my unbrushed hair, due to the humidity on Kauai, looked like it had been run spun into ringlets and then lit on fire -- but I didn't have my teeth in. No wonder their kids started crying.

Here are more photos of Kauai.

My husband bought these hiking pants at REI that unzip at the knees. That's in case if we're out hiking and it gets too warm, he can rectify the situation. With these unzippable pants' legs, he can remove them and presto chango -- he's in shorts. It seems a bit over the top to me. For one thing,my calves are rarely begging for air -- and if I'd rather wear shorts, it's easier just to put on shorts.

But it was so chilly yesterday on the west side of the island -- an area that is typically arid and warmer than the rest of Kauai -- that my sister pulled those pants legs out of the car trunk and slipped her arms through them, clutching the cuffs to her neck. Here are photos of the western side of Kauai:

My camera does not do the colors justice. In person, they are much more vivid, darker reds, brighter greens and deeper yellows. It was a bit overcast and drizzly.

This is looking down toward the north shore, and I was too cold to stand against the railing shooting photos to wait for the sun to reappear. You might ask how can it be cold in Hawaii; it was probably in the mid 60s, but I was wearing a halter top, and it was drizzling.

These guys are all over the island and are protected. They come in a variety of colors. Some are white with spots, sort of the dalmatians of the rooster world and most likely female. My sister and niece are fascinated by the hens and roosters and have been trying, to no avail, to catch them.

We were driving through the canyon on our way back to the ocean when I spotted this rainbow. It was beginning to rain, but we found a spot to pull over, left my niece and sister in the car, and raced back up the road to shoot this photo. You can also see a waterfall on the left.

Let's get one thing straight, say Hawaiians, shaved ice is NOT a snowcone. This is one of the more popular and well known shaved-ice spots in Kauai at Waimea. The owner is from Minnesota. I had a coconut shaved ice with coconut cream and macadamia-nut ice cream. My husband picked the brightly colored raspberry, orange and lemon shaved ice with tiny bits of raspberries.

We flew from Sacramento to LAX in a mid-sized 70-seat Canadair, and even though we made our flight / seat arrangements months in advance, somehow we ended up in the back row right next to the restroom. But at 6:30 in the morning, you don't much care where you are sitting just as long as you can go back to sleep.

Which is what I was doing and what everybody else six rows in front of me were doing -- snoring, heads drooped, eyes closed, when all of a sudden I was startled awake by this shrieking female voice. Some older woman, and to me that means a woman in her 60s, had come down the aisle, noticed a stranger sitting in a seat who wasn't sleeping, and decided to get to know her better by yakking her fool head off.

I raised my head, opened one eye, nudged my husband and said, "Why can't she SHUT UP?" with plenty of emphasis on the shut-up part. Some people are clueless about others around them.

But the flight was uneventful, we made our connection on time in LAX and landed at Lihue Airport shortly before 1 PM.

Here are photos I thought you would enjoy:

These are the palm trees coming into Poipu, which is on the south side of the island.

One of the many lagoons at the Grand Hyatt Kauai.

Grounds and view of ocean from 6th floor of the Grand Hyatt Kauai.

This is my sister, Margie, my niece, Laura (who is 16) standing behind my husband and me at dinner last night. I look pregnant, but I can assure you that's just the way I am slouching, or perhaps I have stuffed a beach ball under my shirt.

We introduced my niece to the world of seafood. I can't believe that a girl can reach the age of 16 without tasting fish or even shellfish. We fed her bits of giant scallops, bites of grilled swordfish and a few chunks of macadamia nut-encrusted mahi-mahi. Turns out she really likes fish.

Well, must run. It's time for my massage. More photos tomorrow.

It's raining this morning in Sacramento as I write this, and we're headed out for the airport. I don't know why they have flights this early to LAX. Nobody in their right mind should have to be at the airport before 5 AM. It's such an awful hour.

I've never flown anywhere on Christmas Day before. If I'm lucky, the airport parking lot will be empty, and there will be no long line for security wrapped around the terminal.

At least all my escrows are tidied up and ready to close in my absence. I worked late into last night to make sure  all my documents were faxed and emailed to all the necessary parties. But you know how it is -- I'll still be checking my BlackBerry to see if there's a last-minute emergency somewhere. My concesssion is I will leave my Jawbone at home.  It's just too hard to turn off my brain and not think about real estate, but I'm going to give it my best. Aloha, everybody!

P. S. With any luck, I'll post photographs from Kauai.

The Short Sale, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming from Archer Ellison in January 2009.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub

If you've never licked a frozen flag pole in the winter, you probably have no idea what it feels like to be shivering in the cold with your tongue stuck to a cold piece of steel. Count yourself lucky. It goes without saying that you're also a fortunate person if you've never thrust a screwdriver into an electrical socket. I've done both of those things. I freely admit my stupidity.

Some lessons are best learned from experience. The best lessons, of course, are those we learn from other people's mistakes, but those are often hard to come by or, for other reasons known only I suppose to some higher force in the universe, ignored.

Mike Lyon, the CEO of Lyon Real Estate in Sacramento, is fond of saying, "May all your mistakes be new ones," and that's a favorite quote of mine. I can't say that I will never ever make mistakes, but I do strive not to make the same ones twice. I like to believe that I learn from my screw ups.

So, when a person I respect tells me, "Don't do THAT, because THIS will happen," sometimes I do it anyway, just to confirm that it will indeed happen. It's not that I don't believe the person who is giving me advice, it's that I need to prove it to myself. Besides, somebody might ask me, "So, how do you really know?" And then I can honestly answer, "Because I've done it."

My advice to you today is if you end up getting your tongue stuck on a frozen flag pole, don't try to pull it off. Wait for a kind soul to pour warm water on the pole. Moreover, if you're going to work on an electrical component in your home over this holiday season, first turn off the main circuit breaker.

And may all your mistakes be new ones. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah everybody!

The Short Sale, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming from publisher Archer Ellison in January 2009.

Photo: Big Stock Photo

If you haven't yet had the chance to see Slumdog Millionaire, don't let this opportunity pass you by. It's showing at the Tower Theatre in Land Park, Sacramento. Slumdog Millionaire is my top choice for the best movie of 2008. It's warm yet evil, fascinating yet simple, inspiring yet sad, and it kept me glued to my seat despite its two-hour run time. It's a Hollywood movie at its finest.

My girlfriend, Lisa, will tell you I'm not always the best judge of movies, but that's because I dragged her to see Phantom of the Paradise starring Paul Williams in 1974. It was my second time, her first, and the movie theater was empty. We were the only patrons. I was rattling on about this fabulous movie and great soundtrack while Lisa looked around the theater and said, "If it's so great, how come nobody is here?"

Slumdog Millionaire is about an 18-year-old kid, Jamal, from the slums of Mumbai, India, who appears on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, trying to win the big prize of twenty-million rupees. The night before the last show, Jamal is arrested for cheating. To get out of jail, he has to explain how an orphaned, uneducated kid like him from the slums could know the answers he gave.

It's always in the questions. I once tried out for the Joker's Wild, and I didn't make it because the sample test questions just happened to be about subjects I knew little about. But when I watched the show on TV, I almost always knew all the answers. If Jokers Wild had asked me the right questions, I would have given them the right answers.

One of my favorite parts about Slumdog Millionaire was when the arrogant TV show host fed Jamal an answer. His street smarts helped him decide what to do -- and the looks exchanged between the TV show host and Jamal were priceless.

I'm not going to tell you the rest of the plot because I don't want to spoil the movie for you. But go, you'll walk out of the Land Park Tower Theatre this holiday season feeling a renewed sense of self worth, appreciation for mankind and hope for humanity. After all, Slumdog Millionaire is a love story that expresses love not only between lovers, but between family, friends, strangers and the world.

The Short Sale, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming from publisher Archer Ellison in January 2009.

Photo: Big Stock Photo

Well, according to Fortune Magazine, that is. It released today its Top 10 Worst Real Estate Markets in the country, and Sacramento came in as number five. First, let's define worst real estate market. I guess Fortune believes the worst markets are due to median housing price declines. You know, that is actually a GOOD market for a buyer. I'm excited to be representing home buyers right now, especially with these fabulously low interest rates.

Fortune magazine predicts that Sacramento values will fall again in 2009 but rise in 2010. Interestingly enough, out of the top 10 worst real estate markets, Sacramento is the ONLY market projected to see a price increase in 2010! Perhaps because we were the first to fall. We'll be the first to come back.

2009 will be a very interesting year for Sacramento real estate. Buyers have the best chance in decades to buy an affordable home now in Sacramento. I can't wait for the New Year.

Fortune Magazine gathered its data from NAR and Moody. So, if you believe in NAR and Moody and the Tooth Fairy, here are the stats:

• 2008 median home price: $225,140 (actually, its $185,000)
• 2009 projected change in median home prices: -22.2%
• 2010 projected change in in median home prices: +2.3%

The Short Sale, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming from publisher Archer Ellison in January 2009.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub, William Land Park, Sacramento

What if you were thinking about going into business for yourself and was told that you'd work long hours, drive all over town for days on end, share your expertise and wisdom with a client with absolutely no guarantee that you'd ever receive compensation for your work, would you be eager to go into the business? Yet that's what some buyer's agents do in real estate.

I referred out-of-town buyers to an agent in an outlying office of Lyon Real Estate because I don't work in the Sacramento foothills and felt I would be doing the clients an injustice if I accepted the job. The agent I referred them to has been in the business for more than 20 years and was extremely familiar with her neighborhood and home prices.

This agent picked up the clients from the airport on a number of occasions, took them to lunch, showed them neighborhoods and homes, helping them to get their bearings to decide where they wanted to live. She spent several months with the buyers and felt she had established good rapport. Last week the buyers sent her an email thanking her for her time, adding that they bought a new home directly from a builder's representative. The agent's response to me was, "It happens."

It happened because she let it happen. Buyers know what they are doing when they decide to dismiss a buyer's agents efforts and hand over a paycheck to another.

The first words out of my mouth when I talk to a potential buyer are: "Are you working with another real estate agent?" A buyer I wrote an offer for last month told me she had been working with an agent but decided instead to work with me. Fine, here, sign a buyer's broker agreement. When we wrote an offer she said, "It's too bad that Susan hauled me all over town and isn't going to get paid for this."

She knew.

None of this dampens my enthusiasm for the business. I love it. And I love working with home buyers. But I do expect loyalty. Why other agents don't is beyond me.

The Short Sale, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming from publisher Archer Ellison in January 2009.

Photo: Big Stock Photo

From 2002 until several years ago, the average sales price in Land Park, Sacramento, hovered around $400,000. At the same time, the $200,000 market in the rest of Sacramento was disappearing. By 2005, that lower-end $200K price range had just about vanished, which meant many first-time home buyers were priced out of the market. They simply could not afford to buy a home in a desirable neighborhood.

All that has changed by December 2008. Not only that, but the flippers are back.

More than 56% of all sales in Sacramento County last month were under $200,000, with 38% of the sold homes falling between $200,000 and $400,000. Want to know how many homes sold in Sacramento over $400,000? Less than six percent! In fact, the average per-square-foot price for Sacramento fell in November to $124. Moreover, REO bank-owned homes under $200,000 were priced at $95 per square foot. Can you believe it? A 1,500 square-foot home for $142,500? A home priced at $142,500 equals a mortgage payment, with taxes and insurance, for less than $1,000 a month!

In the four-county area of Sacramento, homes priced under $200,000 make up 44% of all homes for sale in November. Due to declining interest rates, this means a first-time home buyer or investor can buy a home in the $200K price range for a total PITI payment of less than $1,400 a month. You can't build homes at those prices -- they are selling under construction cost. Mortgage payments are less than rent. It's a buying bonanza in Sacramento.

A mortgage broker from Orange County who sometimes guest writes mortgage articles for my About.com home buying site emailed me last week. An online group was feeding her listings in Sacramento and padding the sales prices by 10%! (It takes all kinds in this market.) So, I scouted some of my favorite neighborhoods and found her a home that she could buy with a positive cash flow, cutting out the crooks. Those types of deals are out there.

If you'd like more information about the Sacramento real estate market, or the homes in Land Park where I live, feel free to call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.

The Short Sale, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming from publisher Archer Ellison in January 2009.

Photo: Trendgraphix