Elizabeth Weintraub • Sacramento Short Sale Agent • Land Park

If you love frozen yogurt like me, you'll be happy to hear that Big Spoon Yogurt is slated to open yet another store, this time in July at the Stone Pointe Shopping Center at Sutterville and Freeport in Land Park. And if you don't really like frozen yogurt, perhaps ladling handfuls of crushed candy bars, nuts or pie fillings on top will change your mind.

Big Spoon Yogurt already has a store in Midtown on J Street, near my Lyon Real Estate office, where customers can also make their own root beer floats. Yum. Now, at the end of the day when I return to my home in Land Park, I'll be close to a Big Spoon Yogurt here as well. I ask: does life get any better than that?

Big Spoon Yogurt is a self-serve, which offers 75 toppings for 36 cents an ounce. I know it's silly, but when faced with so many choices, I generally just choose chocolate. You can't go wrong with chocolate!

The Stone Pointe Shopping Center includes two other businesses so far: Pet Extreme and FedEx Kinkos. Which reminds me, I better skiddaddle since I have to FedEx a buyer's deposit check to escrow this morning . . .

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming May 15th

Photo: Big Stock Photo

Another warm spring day yesterday -- when I think back to the weather in March in Minnesota, it makes me appreciate living in the Sacramento neighborhood of Land Park 10 times over. Do you know that in Minnesota, March is generally the snowiest month? Seems to me that January gets more snow, but the natives will swear it is March.

When I showed property last Saturday, it was drizzling when we started out. We had driven no more than 2 miles when a torrential rainstorm happened. By the time we reached our destination, it had let up and the sun was shining. Although, I still got a wet head from a dripping gutter. Why do agents put the lockboxes directly under the gutter?

Here are photos from my yard. You might say, "Whoa, what's the cacti doing in there?" But cacti form spring flowers, too. Look closely.

See, I don't have to walk down to William Land Park, either. But if you want to see more flowers, you can tour the Land Park neighborhood tomorrow, go to open houses and catch the spring action. If you're driving around Land Park, stop at my listing at 2738 San Luis Court (Vallejo west to San Luis, turn right). It's a great deal at an affordable price.

If you're looking for homes in Land Park, call your Land Park real estate agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916.233.6759.

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming in June 2009.

Photographs: Elizabeth Weintraub, Land Park Sacramento

In an effort to reduce paperwork and make bill paying easier, my husband signed up for Sacramento Bee's "Easy Pay" subscription service. It means the Sacramento Bee charges your credit card every 5 weeks instead of sending an invoice. Seemed simple enough.

The first week we received 2 newspapers a day. They weren't delivered by the same Land Park carrier because they were tossed in different places in the yard. I used to get the paper on my front porch, sometimes slammed into the flower garden, but never out on the lawn.

We called to let the Sacramento Bee know that it did not need to make two Land Park carriers deliver the same newspaper. Next week, still, 2 newspapers on the lawn.

Yesterday, my husband called the Sacramento Bee again. Explained the problem. The Sac Bee said, "Oh, no problem, we'll just cancel your account and open a new account."

My husband was leery about this scheme but was assured it was the proper way to fix the delivery problem.

Well, this morning I opened the front door and discovered not two but FOUR newspapers strewn about on the lawn. They are multiplying. Call me silly, but I don't believe that signing up for the Sacramento Bee's "Easy Pay" service is a good idea. I don't know if this is happening in neighborhoods other than Land Park, but if I were you, I'd go look in the bushes.

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming in June 2009.

Photo: Sacramento Bee papers delivered to Land Park, by Elizabeth Weintraub

When my husband and I first moved to Land Park, my husband had his car stolen. A few years later, he almost had his bumper swiped right in front of our home, but the police scared off the thieves before the thugs could remove the last of 30-some screws. That's what he got for driving a Honda. So, I bought him a Prius.

Now, if I'm driving more than one buyer to see homes in Land Park, I take my husband's car because my vehicle is a roadster. The other day I took the Prius to the car wash on Broadway and 17th. You may not know this, but a Prius doesn't require a key to start it. There is a place somewhere in the car to stick a key for emergency situations -- in case you want to turn on the lights or something when the car isn't turned on -- but I don't know where that secret location is. So, I had to leave the car running for the car wash attendants.

Here are the facts and trends for the real estate market in Land Park and Curtis Park. The chart below shows the last 15 months of activity through January 2009:

Pending sales dropped by more than half over last January. The median price in 95818 for January slid to $340,000. A year ago at this time, the median price was $466,000. That doesn't mean that home values in Land Park and Curtis Park have fallen. What this means is homes priced over $400,000 aren't selling. It's the lower-priced homes that are attracting buyers right now.

Here is another chart that shows the average days on market in 95818 and the original sales prices versus the closed sales prices:

Wow. Will you look at those average days on market? They jumped from 2 months to more than 3 months in January 2009 over December 2008. Inventory numbers spiked from 2.4 months in December to 5.9 months in January. It will take almost 6 months to sell every home that is presently for sale in Land Park and Curtis Park. Hello buyer's market.

And look at that downward arrow for price ratios. At 84% for January, it means that, on average, sellers had to reduce their original sales prices by 16% to sell. Many of the homes that closed in January, though, went into escrow in December. I've always said that December is the absolutely best month to buy a home in Land Park.

If you're interested in more information about the real estate market in Land Park or Curtis Park, call your Land Park Real Estate Specialist Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. I'd love to show you homes in Land Park. And maybe you can help me figure out where the stupid key goes in my husband's Prius.

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming June 2009.

Charts: TRENDGRAPHIX, available exclusively to Lyon Real Estate agents.

The president of the Land Park Community Association described in an email the "turbulent beginning" of the LPCA meeting held last Wednesday. She reported "tedious discussion" and much "interruption," concluding that the rival group within LPCA was trying to "take over the community forum agenda," adding that residents of Land Park supported following her initial agenda.

The Land Park Community Association will hold an Emergency LPCA meeting this Sunday, January 25, 7 PM, at the Eskaton Monroe Lodge on Freeport in Land Park to discuss petitions for bylaw amendments.

I wish somebody would videotape this and put it on YouTube.

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming to a bookstore near you in February.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub, Land Park, Sacramento

Years ago, when I was buying a home in Land Park, Sacramento, and in the process of moving from Minneapolis, I had hired a real estate agent who rarely communicated with me. I would email her and she would not respond. I would leave her voice mails and she would not return my phone calls. Being several thousand miles away and trying to close a real estate deal was stressful enough, but working with an agent whose communication skills were sorely lacking was even more frustrating. It's not the way I choose to do business.

You learn a lot when you're on the other side of the fence, so to speak.

In my own business, when I receive an email from a prospective client, I immediately respond, and this practice sometimes freaks out the recipients. I guess they aren't used to it because they tell me how shocked they are that I called or emailed. But it's easy to respond to people. When I get an email from my web site, it generally contains a phone number, which on a BlackBerry makes it easy to dial. I just scroll to the phone number in the text and click the call button.

My response time is generally 2 to 5 minutes. If I'm out showing property, I excuse myself to make a quick call to say I will call back at a certain time.

I'd like to ask the agents who read my blog: how quickly do you respond to potential client inquiries? My email is set up to download every 2 minutes at my home office and immediately to my cell. That seems normal to me. And to the public I'd like to ask: how quickly do you feel an agent should respond to your request?

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

Photo: Big Stock Photo

Yikes. My husband just came home from the Broadway Post Office -- also known as the Land Park / Curtis Park post office -- to say somebody has vandalized the mailboxes, and all the mailboxes are now sealed shut. It looks like they used a crowbar to pry them open, he said.

The mailboxes are in the back of the post office -- where you drive up to drop in mail between 21st and 22nd Streets. If you've put anything into the mailboxes at the Broadway post office yesterday, you might want to stop payment on those checks and monitor your credit card statements.

If you're heading over to the post office, just take your mail inside.

That's a serious crime, breaking into the mailboxes on U.S.P.S. property. When I was a kid, we were always warned not to drop mail in any of the neighborhood mailboxes because kids sometimes dropped ice cream cones in them or poured pop inside. They weren't breaking into the boxes and stealing the mail.

The Broadway post office is located at 2121 Broadway, Sacramento, CA 95818.

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

Photo: Big Stock Photo

I don't know about you, but I can get by without electricity and heat; but for goodness sake, please don't let my cellphone tower go down.

During the rainstorms last winter, many trees landed on homes in Land Park; and we're hunkering down now for another winter season.  You never know what will happen in Land Park or how many more trees will fall. An electrical line fell on a neighbor's car, and the car burst into flames right there in the street. We were without power for four days. But we got by because I still had my cellphone, Pancake Circus, and our gracious Land Park neighbors who had hot water and working receptacles for charging my phone.

When I'm talking to clients (or perspective clients), I am focused on the conversation. In fact, the cats could march through the house toting little picket signs of a T-Mobile logo with a slash through it, and I wouldn't notice . . . I hope you enjoy my chart.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub

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

One of the promises I make to all my clients after we close escrow is that I don't go away after closing. After the commission check is deposited into my checking account, I don't disappear. I will stay with my clients and help them forever, or until I kick the bucket, which first occurs.

I feel like I owe my home sellers and home buyers my experience, advice and assistance, even if it's something simple like who has the best sale on shoes in town. They know they can always call me, and I will respond. I don't know how other agents run their business, but this premise has worked well for me, and I believe I owe it.

Today a client called because she had leak in her living room ceiling. I suggested she call The Roof Doctors, because all the homes in Land Park that I suspect might have a problem due to an older roof get a paid roof certification from the seller. I insist on it. Not just any roofing company, mind you, but one that will still be in business when a problem occurs.

Mrs. Land Park home owner called me later to say she was afraid her ceiling was going to fall down and, being the weekend, she couldn't get in touch with anybody from the roof certification company. Getting a roof inspection is important in any escrow, but getting it certified for 2 to 3 years after closing is essential.

I put on my rain gear and walked over to their home. Sure enough, the ceiling in the dining room was leaking and a big puddle was forming overhead. They had a pasta pan on the table under the leak. Water dripped into the bucket and then bounced on the table. The first thing I said was "poke a hole in the ceiling and let the water drain into a larger container." We went out to the garage to find a larger receptacle and found the perfect thing -- a plastic storage container.

Then, I went into the attic with Mr. Land Park Home Owner. I cautioned him to walk gingerly on the studs and don't step in between. He poked around in the insulation and showed me the spot where he thought the leak was. He'd been poking around in that area all day looking for a leak but couldn't find it. That's funny. It wasn't anywhere near the spot I would have guessed. Because when I walked up the sidewalk tonight, I looked at the roof. The spinning vent was directly in the middle of the house. I was standing under the spinning vent, which meant the leak had to be to the right.

Sure enough, we looked to the right and low and behold discovered a huge pile of soggy insulation.

Mr. and Mrs. Land Park homeowner said they thought the seller might have mislead them and not disclosed this problem. Then, they thought maybe the home inspector missed it. Any of those suspicions could be true and might even be true, but I had another idea. This home had a new HVAC installed a few days before closing, and the the HVAC system was situated on the roof. I know that home inspectors routinely inspect the perimeters of an attic. And if the seller had repaired a leak, she might have no reason to believe it was going to continue to leak. I advised them to closely read their disclosures and transfer disclosure statement.

Sure enough, Mr. Land Park home owner crawled under the eaves and discovered there was water coming down the side of a pipe leading to the HVAC.

I realize it is not my place to crawl around in attics. I am also not licensed to give advice on home remodeling, home improvement nor home repairs, and I tell clients that. But sometimes you've got to do what you think is right for your clients. I couldn't leave these people to their own devices or they would be sitting in a home right now, trying to serve dinner on a dining room table that was continually splashed with water leaking from the ceiling.

What do you think is too far to go for your clients?

Photo: Big Stock Photo

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

As a kid growing up in Minnesota, I trudged through many first snowfalls on Halloween. We put on long johns under our costumes, grabbed our Applebaum's grocery bags and headed out into the blowing snow and cold. No measly snowflakes were going to put a halt to our quest for Baby Ruth, Clark bars and Butterfingers. In California, though, it's the rain that can drive away kids.

Ordinarily, we get a few hundred trick or treaters down our street in Old Land Park. I was prepared, too, with a 50-pound box of Ghirardelli chocolates (a gift from clients). Halloween at many homes in Land Park was very quiet this year, surprisingly quiet. But then, it was raining. It started to trickle down from the skies on Thursday -- up until this point, we had no rain in Sacramento for six months.

For days I had been reminding my husband that he promised to come home from work a bit earlier on Halloween so he could be responsible for handing out candy this year. He got off too easy. He should agree to take the Halloween shift next year, too. Every year I have been answering the door. It was his turn.

I heard one kid say, "Hey, man, don't walk on their lawn. They gave us candy!"

I looked out the window this morning to survey the neighborhood -- no squashed pumpkins, no candy wrappers, no toilet paper clinging to tree branches. Just rain.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub

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