Elizabeth Weintraub • Sacramento Short Sale Agent • Land Park

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My Cactus Garden in Land Park is Going to Bed for the Winter

land park cactus garden

I forgot that I had a taken a photo of my Land Park cactus garden last week. All the cacti have done extremely well this summer. People think that it's difficult to grow cactus in Sacramento, but I have a secret ingredient: Cactus Juice. It's a calcium-based fertilizer. You mix one teaspoon of Cactus Juice per gallon of water every 10 to 14 days, which for this Land Park resident means every other feeding -- during growing season, of course. Now that it's raining, I won't water the garden until next spring.

Last year I surrounded the tender cacti with water wells, but they've outgrown that protection. I generally lose a little bit of foliage on the succulents to frost freezes, even though I cover the garden with protective sheeting. So, if it ever stops raining today, I need to cover up the cactus garden for the winter.

See, this is what happens when you sell short sales in Sacramento and homes in Land Park. Too busy to tend to a regular garden. The only gardening thing I have time for nowadays is to grow cacti. Well, that and playing Angry Birds on my iPad.

What do you think of the "necklace" around the barrel cactus? Looks rather Elizabethan, no?

sacramento short sale agentcerfified hafa specialist

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Certified HAFA Specialistelizabeth weintraub

 

equator certified platinum reo elizabeth weintraub

Elizabeth Weintraub reviews My Sacramento Real Estate Listings

Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.

Lyon Real Estate is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan.

Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.

Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice. It could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.

 

5 comments • Elizabeth Weintraub, Sacramento Short Sale Agent, Land Park, East Sac, Lyon RE • November 21 2010 10:31AM

If You're Planning a Refinance in Land Park, Beware of the Crooks and Incompetents

land park refinanceBecause I bought home in Land Park in 2002, and I put down 20%, my home is not underwater, thank goodness. If I had bought a home back then in, say, Elk Grove or Natomas, I probably wouldn't have any equity right now, so I am very fortunate to be a Land Park agent and living in Land Park. Apart from being able to walk to restaurants, Target, Land Park Tower Theatre, I'm also close to William Land Park and Vic's Ice Cream. I'm partial to living in Land Park and wouldn't want to live anywhere else, well, except maybe Hawaii.

Homes in Land Park tend to hold their value. That's because there is a demand for them. People gravitate toward these older neighborhoods with vintage homes that exude charm and character. There is a strong sense of community in Land Park. It makes sense for me to live here. It also makes financial sense to pay as little as possible for an interest rate on my mortgage and to quickly pay off my home.

Right now, rates are so ridiculously low that common sense tells me it's time to refinance. So my husband and I have decided to take out a 15-year amortized loan. I checked with Golden 1 but its rates weren't as good as those I could get from my mortgage broker at Vitek Mortgage. The appraisal came in above value and the loan package was about to be submitted. At that point, my mortgage broker pointed out a comment on my credit report. It said "consumer disputes after resolution." Oh, crap.

A couple of years ago, I received my VISA statement that reflected a $9.00 charge I did not make. I had put the telephone number of that company into Google. Sure enough, I found a website where hundreds of people had written that this company was ripping them off. Most people would probably just pay a $9 charge but not me. Crooks tick me off. I called VISA to report that my credit card number had been stolen. VISA canceled the card and issued a new card. And therein lies the problem with the dispute after resolution.

Fortunately, my mortgage broker knows how to remove this from my credit report and has done so, but geez, Louise. If you're planning to do a refinance -- and who with equity would not in this market -- check your credit report to make sure there are no bogus dings. There are a lot of crooks out there nowadays.

Also, make sure you're dealing with a reputable mortgage broker. Sellers I met at an open house once and live over on Land Park Drive called me this week. They asked if I would send them comparable sales because their doofus appraiser used a Land Park short sale that I recently sold as a comparable sale. Those few short sales are not comparable sales for Land Park. I sent these sellers true comps, and sales that were not closed on the other side of Riverside, for crying out loud. Well, maybe if that doesn't work they'll end up getting their refinance through Vitek, too.

Photo: Big Stock Photo

sacramento short sale agentcerfified hafa specialist

---

Certified HAFA Specialistelizabeth weintraub

 

equator certified platinum reo elizabeth weintraub

Elizabeth Weintraub reviews My Sacramento Real Estate Listings

Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.

Lyon Real Estate is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan.

Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.

Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice. It could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.

 

5 comments • Elizabeth Weintraub, Sacramento Short Sale Agent, Land Park, East Sac, Lyon RE • August 14 2010 11:38AM