Elizabeth Weintraub • Sacramento Short Sale Agent • Land Park

OK, I'd like to answer that question by saying never. But that wouldn't be true. Sometimes we take a lowball offer on a Sacramento short sale. But not often. The reason is the market is so hot some buyer somewhere is likely to pay market value . . . or close enough to it for government work.

Agents are all over the board right now. The other day I had a buyer's agent give me peculiar advice about a Bank of America short sale. He swore that he closed a Bank of America short sale in which the bank didn't care what fees were paid because the only thing the bank examined was its bottom line. He swore up and down, "as a Christian man" -- right after he raised his voice an octave, exclaiming that I was forcing him "to go against his God" by signing a promise to not write other offers -- that Bank of America sees everything between the sales price and its net as a slush fund.

What the? That's nonsense; it's absurd. Bank of America examines the worksheet with a fine tooth comb. It routinely knocks out a $40 courier fee and a $125 notary fee. We're lucky if the investor's guidelines allow doc prep or recording fees.

What do you say to somebody who is upset and believes the wrong thing? I'll tell you what you say. You try to have compassion. You try to respect another's beliefs, and you don't mock his God. You say thank you; I appreciate your support, but I do things differently.

Because you can't change people.

Somedays, it doesn't seem to matter what we list a property at, a buyer will come in at 80% of list price or less. They think the banks are desperate without stopping to realize the bank doesn't own the property. They think all negotiations in a short sale are between them and the bank and the seller is merely an accessory after the fact. People think all kinds of strange things. Who are the brain police?

We might entertain a lowball offer, but that's just before an auction. In fact, I pulled one such home out of an auction yesterday with a lowball. It's not easy to postpone a trustee's auction. But a few days or weeks on the market? Nope, no lowballs, so don't send 'em.

Remember, I don't deviate from the norm. Learned my lesson that way years ago. When I find a tactic that works, I stick to it. That's my secret. I realize this sounds overly simplistic but it's true. If you're catching fish, you don't move the boat. Oh, they're biting here, so let's go somewhere else -- I had an ex tell me that once, and that's why he is an ex. I also focus on closing my Sacramento short sales. That's what a successful Sacramento short sale agent does -- she closes short sales. Those lowballs ain't closing, folks.

I've been closing short sales for many years. In fact, I close a huge volume of short sales. Even so, as a Sacramento short sale agent, I still haven't seen it all. I know this to be true because every single day I seem to learn something new. That's part of what keeps my profession interesting. I freely share what I learn in this blog and with other real estate agents. But lately there seems to be a lot of aggression and hostility among agents in Sacramento. I don't know if it's because sales for them have dwindled or maybe it's tree pollen eating their brains.

For example, I received a call yesterday from a buyer's agent who was really abrasive. You could hear it in her voice. It was shrill, sharp, almost as though she regretted having to pick up the phone to call me but perhaps lacked the energy to send an email. She complained about her buyer's offer not being accepted. She wanted to know what I thought she had to do to get it accepted. I told her.

She then wanted to know if my seller knew that I suggested buyers pay a price the bank is willing to accept. How dare I demand a market value offer! Did my seller know that I was telling buyers not to send a lowball offer? I informed her that my sellers and I are on the same page. They trust me implicitly to do what is best for them. That's why they call it a fiduciary relationship.

Another agent decided after the sellers accepted an offer that she wanted to renegotiate. It wasn't her buyers who wanted to renegotiate, it was her. She told me she wants the sellers to move out 10 days before closing. That is her policy for all 3 short sales she has recently closed. Whoop-dee-do. She should have put that in her buyer's offer, but she didn't. And, even if she had, the sellers would have most likely countered it out.

See, this is the thing. Sellers of a short sale are not second-class citizens. They are under no obligation to sell their home as a short sale. It's a voluntary action. You don't treat sellers like criminals, demanding they vacate the premises weeks before closing. They are not tenants. They are homeowners who deserve respect and to be treated like any other seller of a real estate transaction.

No wonder some buyers are having a tough time.

One thing I have never had a problem with is speaking my mind. Just coming right out and saying what needs to be said. Some people like it, some hate it. I guess it depends on which side of the fence you stand. More people respect it than otherwise, which is how I've been able to get away with it for so many years.

Just the other day I was at the dry cleaners picking up a dress. The clerk behind the counter said, "That will be $36.18." As I pulled out a couple of $20 bills I said, "That sounds pretty expensive to dry clean one dress." I realize this is California and all, but that's about 10% of the cost new. Ten dry cleanings, and I could have bought a new dress. That doesn't sound right.

And the clerk said, "You're right. They double charged you because it's a two-piece with a slip." And she knocked off $18. What if I hadn't said anything? I'd have $3 and some coin in change, that's what.

It pays to ask questions. I advise buyers who are thinking about buying a short sale to ask questions. They should find out from the listing agent how much experience that short sale agent has before entering into a contract to buy a short sale. Not every Sacramento short sale that is listed on the market is a transaction that will close. Much of it, but not all of it, depends on the listing agent and the seller's qualifications.

It also pays to ask questions of the buyer's agent. Yes, you heard me. As a Sacramento short sale agent, I might want to know the following before advising my sellers to accept an offer:

• How many short sale buyers have you represented this year?
• How do you manage buyers' expectations and their potential squirmy-ness while waiting for a short sale?
• Do you plan to write other offers for your buyer while waiting for short sale approval?
• Have you explained to your buyer that the seller's bank might counter the sales price or refuse to pay such fees as notary, recording, doc prep and courier?
• How quickly can you turnaround signatures on bank-requested documents?
• Is your buyer ready to put the earnest money deposit into escrow?
• Do you have a preapproval letter with a current date?

These are not out-of-the-ordinary questions, but they need to be asked. If a buyer's agent cannot supply satisfactory answers, that agent's buyer might not get the home. It's a two-way street in short sale land.

Growing up in the 1950s, I had a crush on Matt Dillon. John Wayne? Oh, puhlease, no, no, no, Matt Dillon. I never liked John Wayne. I once wrote a piece about how the fine folks in Orange County should take his statue out of the airport and stick in the entrance of Newport harbor so pigeons could poop on it. That endeared me to many. But Matt Dillon had character, integrity, ethics and well, who knows what went on between him and Miss Kitty. James Arness died last week at 88.

There are no Westerns on prime-time TV anymore. That's a shame. A crying shame. There is something about the grittiness, real world, simplicity and the development of community in a Western that draws me to them. Davy Crockett, Paladin, Have Gun Will Travel, Maverick, Wagon Train. There was right and wrong, not too many shades of gray. Somebody dies, somebody lives.

With that in mind, my husband and I went to the Crest Theatre in downtown Sacramento yesterday to see Meek's Cutoff. It's a film from a woman's perspective about a group of 3 families traveling west on the Oregon Trail in 1845. Based on a true story. I'm not going to spoil the story by telling you the ending. Except to say there is no ending. Unless there is. It made me think about how spoiled we are today. How few of us would make it in a covered wagon. We rely too heavily on our luxuries.

You want luxuries -- here is a luxury condo in Antelope. It offers every amenity you'd expect to find in a condo. Gleaming hardwood floors were installed by the owner's contractor in the living and dining room when she moved in. Open floor plan. Raised panel birch cabinets in the kitchen, plus granite counters, an island and ceramic floor. Stainless appliances, and the refrigerator stays, says the seller. However, if you want a personal appliance that is not a fixture, you must ask for it in the purchase contract.

You'll find a half bath and a room with a stacked washer and dryer on the first floor (which stays), in addition to an enclosed patio through the sliding doors past the dining room. Because this is a corner unit, the enclosed patio is somewhat private. The condo features more windows, too.

Upstairs are 2 master suites, each with a respective bath. One bath has a tub over the shower and is larger than the bath toward the back, which has only a shower. But that back master suite has a much bigger walk-in closet, so take your pick.

Nice square footage, around 1,270 per the assessor. There is a detached one-car garage. The unit was built by Sixells and it's the Shasta B model. The complex is Crest at Sierra in Antelope.

7910 Walerga Road, #503, Antelope, CA 95843, is offered exclusively by Lyon Real Estate as a short sale at $83,000. For more information, call your Sacramento short sale agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759. For a private showing, call Barbara Dow at 916 761 7398.

photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

Before I tell you about my new Elk Grove short sale, let me say a word about baths. I was reading Inman News this morning, a piece about standardizing how we count baths. You know, in Minneapolis, for example, a bath with a shower and no tub is called a three-quarter bath.

No such animal in Sacramento. In Sacramento, we'd call such a bath a full bath. And we wouldn't call it a bathroom. It's a bath. The word bathroom carries a connotation that we'd rather not think about much less discuss. Bath is more like spa. Relaxing, soothing, a place of serenity.

I've struggled with how to describe other components in the bath as well. But that discussion is for another day. Today I'd like to present a Lakeside home in Elk Grove that is filled with light, even though many of the windows are on the north side. It's incredible light. For those of you looking for an east-facing home, here you go.

The single-story home built in 1999 has almost 1,600 square feet, but with its vaulted ceilings, it seems much larger. There are also a lot of cut-outs and varying heights of the walls that make it appear more spacious than it is. Of course, the floor plan is open. There is no wall between the kitchen, dining and family room, the latter with gas-piped fireplace.

It has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. The master suite has a remote area that is presently being used as an office, but a new owner could very well build a wall and put in a door to make that space an extra bedroom, if a person wanted.

The home is immaculate. Berber carpet and tile, mostly. Separate laundry room. A sink in the garage -- I wish I had a utility sink in my home. And the two-car garage is attached.

Access to the beautifully landscaped back yard is from the master suite and the family room. In the spring, the trees planted along the back bud and leaf out, obscuring the homes behind the fence. Those trees-- redwood, red maple and birch -- turn the yard into a private paradise. Plus, you've got a covered patio for entertaining.

3229 Turnbuckle Circle, Elk Grove, CA 95758, is exclusively offered by Lyon Real Estate as a short sale at $205,000. Call your Sacramento short sale agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759 for more information.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

It is rare for me to lose a short sale due to valuation. So, I'm not even certain that when a bank rejects a short sale due to value whether the bank really prefers foreclosure. Because sometimes the bank prefers to foreclose. Doesn't matter what the price is. I know that concept is difficult for some people to wrap their heads around, as I hear over and over from agents and buyers that it's better for the bank to do a short sale, which is not always correct. Well, it's correct that I hear it. The premise, however, is what's wrong.

It's not always better for the bank to do a short sale over a foreclosure. Must have been an eager short sale agent fresh from certification who designed that marketing. The statement is echoed everywhere like a mantra: it is better for a bank to do a short sale. Baloney. Agents should stop repeating this lie.

Get one thing straight. Banks are under no obligation to consider a short sale much less grant a short sale.

I can say this, though. Buyers who step up to the plate and offer the asking price of my Sacramento short sale listings stand a very good chance of closing escrow. That's because the sellers and I review the comparable sales the same way a BPO agent will do it. And it's the BPO agent's advice that the bank typically relies on for value. If a buyer lowballs that price, well, the buyer gets what the buyer gets. Which is generally nothing.

Sometimes, I go back and track the homes that fell through the cracks -- the short sales the banks rejected. 100% of the time the bank has sold that home as a bank-owned home for less money than the bank was offered as a short sale. Is the bank stupid? No, the bank is not stupid. The bank did not want to sell that home as a short sale. The bank made more money selling it as a foreclosure. Just because you and I can't see the profit doesn't mean it does not exist.

Photo: Big Stock Photo

The last time my sister came to see me in California was sometime in the 1980s. I was selling real estate and living in Newport Beach (Orange County) when she flew into San Francisco. Back then she was a pilot. She called me after landing -- this was before cell phones -- and asked for directions to my house. Well, take a left and drive 500 miles.

Although I've been working as a real estate agent and living in Sacramento for more than 8 years now, my sister has never come to visit. We've previously met up in Hawaii for a winter vacation, and I've been back to Minneapolis to attend a friend's funeral on Christmas Day several years ago, but our schedules haven't allowed us to get together much.

Above is a photo of my sister, shot the day she left to go home after her Thanksgiving visit. She developed a special bond with my cat, Pica. With any luck, she might move to Sacramento, and I surely hope she does. I love her and miss her. Apart from my husband and his family back in Chicago, she and my niece are my family. Family is important. And family becomes even more important the older we get, or maybe it's age that brings us the wisdom to realize it.

Nobody understands family more than Freddie Mac. Freddie Mac announced yesterday it will not throw families out in the street over Christmas. We won't be seeing images like those from the Great Depression, with cigar-smokin' bankers yanking children through doorways and tossing them to the curb, stuffed bunnies and blankets and all. Nope, no film from Roger and Me, boarding up an empty house and flashing to a snowbank used as the back drop for battered suitcases and a scraggly Christmas tree. Naw, this is 2010. This is when we only pretend to play nice.

From December 20th to January 3rd, Freddie Mac will hold off on evictions. You can bet your holiday eggnog Fannie Mae, and a few other government agencies, will jump onboard as well. It would be significant if there was a social conscience attached to this decision, but you and I both know that is asking for too much.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub

Some people don't have a very high opinion of real estate agents. If you ask them what they think about real estate agents, they might say that agents are money-grabbing, money-hungry thieves who are no better than a snake in the grass. I say those people are giving agents too much credit. Agents aren't nearly as slick as the public may perceive.

Most agents are doing their best to eke out an honest living and take care of their clients so they'll get future referrals. End of story. There's really not much more to it.

I was explaining to my sister who is visiting Sacramento from Minneapolis how new agents get paid. How they might end up with 50% of 50% less miscellaneous fees and then overhead, which times 12 is less annually than a clerk earns at The Home Depot. How much easier it is to earn more money when an agent has earned a higher split at the brokerage, but in this down economy, some top producers have slipped in the ranks. I'm happy to say that my production has not suffered in the least; in fact, it's grown, but I'm not the norm. I'm a Sacramento short sale agent. We're some of the few agents who have found a niche and a way to survive the down market in Sacramento.

In any case, my sister was astonished. She has no idea how the real estate business works from the inside. I imagine most people don't know. Like the buyer who is closing on a short sale in Elk Grove next week. That buyer's agent would have earned a much higher commission percentage if that buyer closed this week. That's a Wachovia short sale for ya. But the agent did not want the buyer to spend the money to order an appraisal until after the home inspection. And the home inspection could not be completed in enough time. So the agent willingly gave up part of her commission to protect her buyer. Does the buyer know that? I doubt it.

Or the buyer's agent who represents the buyers for a short sale in Rocklin. The second lender on that short sale demanded a few thousand more and refused to let the seller pay it. Sometimes short sale banks make unreasonable demands and shoot arrows into the transaction, just to shake it up a little, just to keep us all dancing on our toes. That agent stepped up to the plate and offered to participate by contributing part of his commission to make the transaction feasible for his clients. He didn't have to. He could have sold them a home nearly identical a few blocks down at the same price and earned more.

It's often astonishing news for clients to learn that their agent cares about them. It shouldn't be.

Photo: Big Stock Photo

I'm finding that buyers in Sacramento right now see no urgency in writing an offer. Doesn't matter whether the home is a short sale or a regular sale, buyers are acting as though they have all the time in the world. It's true that we have more inventory in Sacramento than a year ago, and that number is growing, so there are plenty of choices. But the unsung tragedy in real estate is as soon as you want to buy a home, so does another buyer. And the likelihood is it will be the same home.

Don't ask me how or why this happens; I don't really know. All I know is it happens. A lot. That home can sit on the market for 6 months, looking all lonely and forlorn, but the minute a suitor appears on the doorstep, another will pop up, clutching a bouquet of roses. On guard! Dual! Multiple offers! And the second buyer won't believe his agent, "Aw, come on, you're making this up," he'll accuse. "There can't be another offer." But there can be and there is.

Had it happen twice this week. A buyer viewed the property 2 or 3 times with his agent. Couldn't make up his mind. Meanwhile, another buyer swooped in, wrote a full-price offer and snatched that home away. Now, it's possible in a short sale for a seller to accept a back-up offer and kick out the first buyer. Sellers can cancel short sales. This particular seller considered it. But the second buyer was still in no rush.

By the time the second buyer came around, it was too late. Moreover, the buyer -- in frustration or confusion, hard to say which -- approached the seller directly and begged on bended knee, offering up the biggest sparkling rock you ever laid eyes on. Tried to cut out his agent and go around the listing agent. That's a sure-fired recipe for disaster. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. If the guy was so desperate to buy that short sale, he should have written an offer right after he viewed it the first time. After all, it's not like that short sale is gonna close escrow anytime soon. There's plenty of time for questions and answers.

In the second transaction, we received an offer last week and the seller made a small counter. The counter offer wasn't about price. We sent the counter to the buyer and gave the buyer 3 days to respond. This home had been on the market for at least 90 days without a single offer. Sure enough, yesterday we received a higher offer with a larger down payment and conventional financing instead of an FHA loan. The seller signed that second offer and withdrew the counter offer to the first buyer.

When I spoke to the first buyer's agent earlier in the day, she told me the buyer was still thinking about the counter offer and whether he really wanted to buy that home. Ha. Ask any Sacramento short sale agent. The name of the real estate game in Sacramento right now is you snooze, you lose.

Photo: Big Stock Photo

Keeping buyer's agents happy is a huge part of my job. Because if a buyer's agent ain't happy, that short sale ain't closing. Buyers agents have an enormous job in any Sacramento short sale. They are the magical key. They are the hard-working, behind-the-scenes guys who manage buyer expectations. They can dance on the head of a pin barefoot -- and I'm sure to some agents it feels that way.

Because waiting for short sale approval can sometimes be a long and scary road for a buyer. A buyer needs to rely on his or her agent for support. That agent, in turn, needs to know that he or she can rely on the listing agent. It's a domino effect. Except it works, of course, by keeping everybody vertical.

Buyer's agents and their buyers are like gold to me. Without them, I'd have no transaction and a seller out in the street. I realize that sometimes buyers feel desperate -- for whatever reason -- and they call me. Short sales are emotional, more so than most deals. I had two buyers in two separate transactions contact me yesterday. One buyer called, practically in tears, because she didn't know when we would close. Should I give her the good news that it's next Tuesday or should I direct her back to her agent?

I assured the buyer it was indeed closing but she needed to call her agent. I don't speak with other agent's clients. It's unprofessional. Then I sent an email to the agent to let the agent know the client had called. The closing date happened so quickly and unexpectedly, the other agent probably did not have time to speak with the client yet. I don't need to take credit for the fast closing -- I gave the credit to the buyer's agent. Buyers will hear only good things about their agent from me. But I don't engage in conversation with other agent's buyers.

Another buyer approached my sellers with news that wasn't exactly happening in the order the buyer believed. The sellers notified me, and I called the agent. We discussed strategy and how to soothe the buyer's fears. I care about that agent, and I care about the buyer. I like happy endings. Keeping everybody happy in a real estate transaction is a tricky dance at best. Every so often I may run across a twit, of course, but that's to be expected -- not every agent carries high standards for herself or himself. It's not a reflection on the industry as a whole.

So, like that State Farm commercial, if you're buying a Sacramento short sale, rest assured you're in good hands with Elizabeth Weintraub. But please don't call me if you're a buyer in one of my short sales because I can't talk to you. Call your dedicated agent. I keep all of my buyer's agents informed and up-to-date. I talk to your agent, and you talk to them. That's how it works. And, please, trust that your transaction will close.

Photo: Big Stock Photo