When you're a woman of a certain age, nobody asks you how old you are anymore. Not even on your birthday. Which is today. And I am 59. Not quite the big 6-0 yet. I look in the mirror and wonder how I got here. One step at a time, I suppose.
My sister sent me 2 birthday cards. Why do people do that? Probably because the greeting card industry has us hooked. We can't decide between 2 cards, especially if one is funny and sort of nasty and the other is sweet. I think it's because we want to send two messages and don't want to offend. So, the greeting card company makes out like a bandit.
Because I am a Sacramento short sale agent, today will be like any other day. Fresh hell. Can't get away from it. Well, I do keep my sense of humor, which is how I manage to do my job so well. Without a sense of humor, I'd be just like every other Sacramento short sale agent out there -- frazzled, distressed, frustrated and ready to bang her head back and forth in the doorway simply because it feels so good when she stops.
I am listing a new short sale in Whitney Ranch today. A luxury home. I might also be attending a closing but it depends on whether the mortgage company can perform. At the 11th hour, management at this mortgage company pulled the file from doc stage. It suddenly worried that after closing it might not be able to sell the mortgage to investors. Even though I told the MLO over and over we must close by June 29th, I suspect s/he heard white noise, a bee buzzing around, and s/he ignored my warning.
Why would a MLO ignore such a warning? Because s/he is probably used to not closing files on time and always getting extensions from short sale lenders. You can't get too comfortable with this modus operandi because one day you will run across a short sale bank or a HAFA short sale that will not and cannot issue an extension. Extensions are never guaranteed. And this is one of those. C'est la vie. You win some, you lose some. We can start over if we have to. I never give up.
I will also try to go another round with a negotiator at ASC. She says only a 1% seller concession, therefore she is removing the escrow fee from the HUD. I am trying to get her to understand that the escrow fee is not a seller concession. This is proving to be a more difficult task than teaching my cat to use the toilet. I would really like my cat to use the toilet. But somehow, I don't think that's gonna happen.
Regardless, today will be a fabulous day! No matter what happens in Sacramento short-sale land, I don't let it drag me down. Why would I? If I let every little annoyance drag me down, I would be ineffective and working below my capacity. It's much better to search for solutions and keep focused. Concentrate on love, laughter, nature. Life is short, and then you turn 60. 70. 80. Hopefully, 100.
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Certified HAFA Specialist
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.
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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.
