Elizabeth Weintraub • Sacramento Short Sale Agent • Land Park

The Land Park car wash people showed up over the weekend to wash my car, and I had forgotten to pull it out of the garage. So, I asked my husband to do it. When he came back into the house he asked, "When was the last time you had your car in for service?" Uh, oh. He said it shook vehemently upon starting and the engine light came on. Of course, when I later turned the key, it was fine, but that dang engine light is still on. I wonder how long I've been driving with the engine light illuminated?

I sure hope it's not time to buy a new car. I probably deserve a new car, but I don't have the time to shop for a new car. Too many choices. It's very time intensive to shop. Believe it or not, I rarely shop. I buy almost everything online, never step foot into a grocery store -- because my husband handles the meal planning and grocery runs -- and, if I must buy clothes, I favor a specific designer's line. Shopping is pretty much a leisure activity. When I have time for leisure, I don't spend it shopping.

Now, looking at homes, that's a different story. I love to show property. That's because a home is more than four walls and a roof. It's a collection plate of memories and emotions -- past, present and future. Buyers tell me they know within 3 minutes of entering a home whether they want to buy because "it feels right." So I try to pay close attention to the way a home feels. In fact, many senses are involved. Sight is only one.

After listing a short sale in Natomas this morning and attending a closing in Midtown this afternoon, I am showing homes in Land Park, which I dearly love. Thank goodness I can borrow my husband's car. I find that buyers for homes in Land Park sometimes pay too much attention to the characteristics of the home, its architectural detail and curb appeal, and sometimes not enough attention to the most important sense of all -- common sense. Because price points for homes in Land Park can be all over the map. Some are priced too high so it's easy to overpay. Even in a market with HVCC which, knock on wood, is being revised. As a Land Park agent, I've listed and sold homes for a few sellers that probably should have never sold for the prices buyers paid. I live in Land Park. I know what's market and what's not.

Common sense says a buyer should ask his or her agent to look at the comparable sales before writing a purchase offer. In this market -- heck, in any market -- it makes sense to also look at the pending sales and active short contingent prices because they are indicative of the way the market is moving. The low-end market in Land Park is being hammered at the moment. Some homes are for sale at prices lower than their comparable sales. That gives me something else to focus my attention on than whether my car is about to explode.

Photo: Big Stock Photo

You probably could not fit a ferris wheel into the back yard of most homes in Land Park, but my new listing in Land Park has a huge yard for a low price -- more than one-fifth of an acre -- which might very well be big enough for a ferris wheel. I've always adored ferris wheels. There's just something about being swept up into the air, whooshed to the ground, and going around and around that is a lot of fun.

You know who else loves ferris wheels? Well, he's dead, of course, but Michael Jackson. The state NAACP is pushing an idea to the state Parks Commission to turn Neverland Ranch into a state park. Colony Capitol LLC, a Santa Monica-based equity firm, has said it would like to sell the 2,600-acre property for $100 million. But will the state of California buy it and turn it into a state park? The state of California doesn't even have two nickels to rub together, so I don't see how that's going to happen.

Still, I would probably go see it if I happened to be down in southern California, if for no other reason but to ride that ferris wheel.

If you might like to put a ferris wheel into your own yard, I invite you to check out this new listing in Land Park. Bring your tape measure to see if it's possible. You might also have to check with the city to find out if there are height restrictions for putting up structures in the back yard because honestly, I have no idea. I'm just joking around.

This home is offered as a short sale and has two very large bedrooms, one of which is a master suite. I suppose if you weren't going to put a ferris wheel in the back yard, it could be possible to add on a new master suite and turn the existing master into a junior suite. Or you could do nothing and simply move in. It's large for a two-bedroom, 1 1/2 bath, with about 1,468 square feet.

It has beautiful hardwood floors throughout, except for the kitchen and baths. You'll find all the delightful touches you've come to love in a 1938 cottage -- coved ceilings, nooks and crannies, spacious rooms, crown molding and even plantation shutters. There is a quarter basement, too.

The dining room features leaded glass built-ins and a curved window with grids. It seems to have an original chandelier, but don't quote me on that. This room serves as the focal point, leading to an oversized hallway on the right and the kitchen is straight ahead.

In the kitchen, you'll see ceramic tiled counters, plenty of cabinets and storage, a built-in electric range, a separate oven and, of course, a dishwasher. There's a door to the basement and another door to the back yard, plus a bank of windows that overlooks the gorgeous yard.

But the piece de resistance is that fabulous yard. First, enjoy the expansive brick patio. It leads from the steps and winds through the covered gazebo-like area to the koi pond and water fountain. Beyond that area you'll delight in finding even more gardens, including a magnificent trumpet vine sporting orange blossoms interwoven through an arched arbor. Plus, there's a detached one-and-one-half to 2-car garage.

2781 Marty Way, Sacramento, CA 95818, is exclusively offered by Lyon Real Estate as a short sale at $385,000. For more information, please contact your Land Park agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

OK, my hand is in the air, and I vote for roofer. When the temperature hits 115 in Sacramento, the last place anybody on Earth should want to be is on top of a hot tar roof. I mean, given the types of jobs a person can do in the construction industry, sweating in the hot summer sun some 10 feet in the air falls to the bottom of my list.

My neighbor in Land Park is putting on a new 50-year staggered-design comp roof. His old roof was shake, which didn't quite fit with the surrounding homes in Land Park. Most of the homes on my street were built in 1948.

When he's finished, he'll have new underlayment, R49 insulation in the attic, and an air circulation system in the eaves to keep down his utility bills.

I watched the roofers tear off his shake and the decaying underlayment. Then, as they were approaching the spot where the ladder was propped, one of them managed to stomp through the overhang and break a few boards. Which they will have to replace.

The roofers also started laying the OSB on the north side of the home yesterday morning, working their way around to the south side by mid-afternoon. You would think it would make more sense to start on the side that gets hotter in the afternoon in the morning instead.

But maybe that's why I am a Land Park agent and not a roofer.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub

Home buyers in Sacramento often tend to put too much emphasis on the list price. I've heard buyers say they won't pay list price for any home, and I send those buyers elsewhere. Well, not at first, of course. I try to educate them. What if the home is underpriced? But you can't always pound a square peg into a round hole.

Some listings are overpriced homes, some are priced at market value as a highly desirable home, some are underpriced. Especially when you're looking at homes in Land Park. This Sacramento neighborhood is popular because of its close proximity to downtown, its stately and classic homes, and its tree-canopied streets, among other reasons.

A buyer told me a few weeks ago that the home she is buying is not a terrific bargain because she paid the seller's asking price. I don't know if she really believes that or if she was hoping that I could work more of my magic and get her a concession. The thing is she bought a home within a few hours of it hitting the market. That listing attracted multiple offers. Her offer was the winning offer, due in part to the way I structured it. She was lucky to buy this home at all.

Plus, after she fixes it up and sells this home, whether it's a few years from now or decades, this home will still hold the same appeal that it did when she bought it. Which means buyers will fight for it. She will own a treasured commodity. See, the time to think about selling a home is when you buy it. Other buyers down the road will jump on that desirable home in Land Park for the same reasons this buyer did.

On the other hand, I closed a transaction this month in which a Land Park home was listed dramatically under the market. I recognized its value immediately. It had been pending and fell out of escrow. When I saw it come back on the market, I notified my buyer and he submitted an offer. I managed to get my grubby little paws on his lender's appraisal and my eyes popped out of my head. It appraised for 12% more than the sales price. In a market where low appraisals are often the norm.

If you're trying to buy a home in Land Park, you might want to ask yourself: How much is this home worth? Not how much the seller is asking. List prices can be deceptive. A Land Park agent knows the values in Land Park. If you want an edge, then work with a neighborhood specialist. This is true not only in Land Park but anywhere in the country. Otherwise, you might be throwing offers at a wall and none of them will stick.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub, corner of 12th Avenue and Land Park Drive

One sure-fired way to help conserve water in Sacramento is to grow drought-tolerant plants. When a winter storm in January 2008 took out my birch trees, I decided to remove part of my deck and turn that area into a garden filled with cacti and succulents. Not that I knew much about cacti but I'm one of those people who enjoys learning new things by implementation first, studying later.

For example, when I buy a new piece of technology, I rarely read the manual. Probably because I don't want to read 150 pages translated from another language into English to figure out how to turn a gizmo on and off. I like things that are intuitive, solving puzzles myself.

Today, I am trying to figure out what kind of cactus I planted in my back yard. Another person might have determined whether the cactus was suitable for a particular location, type of soil and weather before planting it, but not me. I stick it in the ground and worry about it later. As a land park agent, I see lots of homes in Land Park with cactus and / or succulents growing in yards. It might be a pear cactus tucked away by a fence and sheltered from the elements or, more commonly, Echeverias, because they are so easy to grow in Land Park.

When I planted my barrel cactus 2 1/2 years ago, it was about 5-inches tall. Now it's over four feet. I have discovered there are two types of barrel cactus genera: echinocactus and ferocactus. This cactus is a ferocactus pilosus. Its common name is a Mexican Lime Cactus. In the spring it sports gorgeous red cactus flowers.

Usually this cactus gets little pups sprouting off its base. Sometimes I cut them off and throw them away or else I plant them. But check out the ring of pups on this baby now. They are growing not at the base but around its neck like a necklace. If I leave them alone, this cactus will most likely turn into a work of art. But isn't all of nature a work of art?

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub, ferocactus pilosus in Land Park, Sacramento

A few years back, I listed a home in Land Park for a seller who had lost his mother. We talked about staging the home, but the seller refused. He couldn't bear to disturb any of his mother's belongings until the home sold. His mother's artwork collection hung on the walls, her knickknacks were everywhere, and all of the flooring was covered in worn carpeting, which made it difficult to sell that home. Without staging, the home reflected his mother and held little appeal for home buyers. But that's what the seller wanted. His home, his choice to make; not mine.

Many months later, we eventually sold it and for more than list price, too. Imagine the buyer's astonishment when she pulled up the carpeting to discover wide-plank, beveled hardwood floors throughout. The floors were in immaculate condition because they had not been exposed for probably more than 40 years. If the floors had been uncovered during the sale process, that home would have quickly sold and most likely for a lot more money. Those floors were icing on the cake for that buyer.

However, not all of the homes in Land Park have hardwood flooring under carpeting. The fact is buyers don't know what's under the carpeting until all of the carpeting is removed. I know some buyers will sneak into a closet and tug at the corner of the carpeting to look at what's under it. While that will give you a clue, it won't tell you if the entire room has hardwood floors. Buyers also do not have the right to mess around with a seller's carpeting. Carpeting is a fixture. Buyers are not allowed to pull up a corner of the carpeting without the seller's permission.

While the odds are if hardwood floors are exposed in one of the bedrooms, the other bedrooms most likely have hardwood floors, even if they are covered with carpeting or area rugs. But buyers simply do not know the condition of those floors nor if those floors are actually wood, much less hardwood. If a home has had extensive pest work, part of the floors might be plywood or some other kind of replacement material. Who's to say that the seller might not have overwatered a plant and ruined the hardwood floors, like I managed to do in the middle of my living room? Or, as gross as it sounds, pets could have urinated on the carpeting and into the hardwood.

When I bought my home in Land Park, the home had carpeting throughout. Lovely stretched-out orange shag in the family room, too. Today, all of that carpeting is gone. My floors are hardwood, bamboo, Marmoleum and ceramic tile. The bamboo and Marmoleum are considered green home improvements. I had hoped for hardwood throughout, but only my living room and dining room have hardwood floors. I was a little disappointed when I discovered that not all of my floors were hardwood, but that comes with the territory.

A buyer who bought a home in Land Park found out the hard way that his new home did not have hardwood flooring throughout on the day that escrow closed. Imagine his shock when he discovered the pest company workers were still in one of the bedrooms working on the flooring when he showed up to get the keys. The carpeting was yanked back to expose sheets of plywood and what appeared to be OSB. To say this buyer was a little disappointed is an understatement. But this was a bank-owned home. It was sold in its "as is" condition. The pest workers say the floor was already destroyed when they began the pest work.

It's enough to make you cry.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub

A survey released last month by Zillow showed consumers spend more time buying a car than shopping for a mortgage to buy a home. However, when you look closely at that survey, it makes sense. There might be more to buying a car than researching a mortgage. For one thing, you've got to decide on which car to buy. I think consumers start with the manufacturer, then they choose a model and, finally, they select options and discuss delivery dates.

When choosing a mortgage, home buyers are buying a bag of money. All money is the same. It's the cost of that money that varies.

Once a buyer chooses a product, whether it's a car or a mortgage, the only thing left to decide is from whom a buyer will purchase that product. I recall shopping for a car in Orange County back in the 1980s. While talking to a dealer about buying a specific vehicle, the sales manager brought up his competition. He began to explain why his dealership and vehicles were better than his competitor. Before he said that, I had been ready to sign on the dotted line. However, now that he had told me about a competitor, I decided to go to that competitor myself and check out a different car . . . which I ended up buying from his competitor. Talk about over-educating the consumer.

Now, another factor to consider, beyond the cost of that bag of money for a mortgage, is the performance level of the individual who will be handling a borrower's loan. Lately, it seems that borrowers, especially first-time home buyers, are spending more time comparing lenders to each other. Borrowers examine Good Faith Estimates and APR rates. They negotiate hard on that 1/8th percentile difference. They generally spend zero time asking about performance.

If a lender can't close a loan by the estimated closing date, it doesn't much matter whose bag of money a buyer is grabbing. Delays in closing can result in any of the following:

• Cancellation of contract
• Loss of home buyer tax credit
• Per Diem charge when buying a foreclosure
• Renegotiation of a short sale approval
• Inability to move into a new home over a specific weekend
• Domino collapse when selling and buying concurrently
• Loss of movers at month end
• Having no place to live because new tenants are moving into your rental

One of my Land Park buyers is closing escrow this week. He had his lender all lined up when were looking at homes in Land Park. But when he made the offer on a bank-owned home, that bank told him he had to choose its own bank for a loan if he wanted the bank to pay his closing costs. So, let's see. If he goes with Bank A, he gets more than $10,000. If he chooses Bank B, he gets nothing. Well, that's a no-brainer.

But I was prepared for a delay. It was practically inevitable. One of the ways I handle this sort of thing is to give the REO bank an addendum that specifies escrow will close on X day without additional cost to the buyer. Yup, I come right out and ask for it. Even though the contract says the buyer will pay X $ amount for each day the buyer runs past the closing date. An experienced Land Park agent can help a buyer to avoid paying those penalties.

Photo: Big Stock Photo

Lockbox day came and went on Saturday. But I didn't have time to collect all of my lockboxes from my closings last week because one of my Land Park / Curtis Park buyers needed me to draft a Request for Repair. Picking up lockboxes falls to the bottom of my priority list when a client calls.

I had tried to remove the lockbox from a certain Sacramento listing the day after closing, but the buyers had locked the exterior screen door. My lockbox was attached to the inside door handle. Usually I put them on the gas meter, as long as the gas meter is not behind a locked gate, for this very reason.

My transaction coordinator called the buyer's agent to find out when the buyers would be home so I could gain access to my lockbox. It was possible that these buyers weren't very happy when this transaction closed. That's because they thought they were getting a free pool table but the seller took it.

When the buyers did their final walk-through with their buyer's agent, they discovered the pool table had been moved out. They were very upset, according to their agent. In fact, their agent suggested that I should compensate the buyers for their loss. This was the same agent who wrote an offer for these buyers over list price and forgot to ask the sellers to pay the buyer's closing costs, which the buyers were counting on. Neither the buyers nor their agent noticed that little snafu until the file was ready to be submitted to underwriting.

The thing is if a buyer wants personal property, the request for that personal property should really be in writing. The agent did not make a verbal nor a written request. Not by email, not by addendum. When I sent the sellers' acceptance of offer to the agent, I included the contact information for the title company and let the agent know that the sellers would be willing to leave the pool table if the buyers wanted it. The agent replied "Excellent." But the agent did not ask for the pool table. What did excellent mean? I interpreted that word to mean the agent was happy that the buyers' offer was accepted.

So when I picked up my lockbox yesterday, I passed on the sellers' message that the pool table had been purchased years ago from Sears for $229. It was missing nuts and bolts and screws. They were probably better off without it. I'm not even sure they really looked at it because in an effort to stage the home, I had the sellers cover it up with a tablecloth, disguising it as a dining room table. Hey, what are you gonna do when you've got a pool table smack dab in the middle of your dining room?

I didn't want to bad mouth their agent. That would serve no purpose at all. Sometimes agents make mistakes. We all do. It's the nature of the real estate business in Sacramento right now. Instead, it's better to focus on the positive aspects -- which were the buyers got their dream home and the sellers were able to close escrow 5 weeks from listing that home for sale.

Photo: Bumble Bee on Lavender in Land Park, by Elizabeth Weintraub

A Wachovia short sale is preferred by every short sale agent I know. That's because Wachovia cuts through the crap and expedites the approval process. Lately, I've been receiving 24-hour turnaround. It doesn't mean that every short sale approval we get from Wachovia, though, is the approval we expect to receive. Every so often, Wachovia issues a counter in that approval letter. This morning, Wachovia informed me that we need to "work the numbers backwards" to arrive at the countered sales price. Which we can do, no problem.

I have received so many offers on that particular short sale that I am confident one of those buyers will step up to the plate. Some of my Sacramento short sales are like that. Very popular. Some not so much and those take longer to sell. Yesterday, I received 6 offers on one short sale. An all-cash offer. Some out-of-the-ballpark offers. Agents begging, jockeying for that edge. There is no edge. The seller and I want the most qualified and committed buyer.

When an agent carries on and on about how qualified the buyer is, that behavior makes me want to run the buyer through the tax rolls. Sure enough, 9 times out of 10, that "extremely qualified" buyer actually owns another property that is upside down. Owning an underwater home doesn't mean the buyer won't get approved to buy another home, but it does mean the odds are against it. An underwriter will scrutinize a loan for an upside-down borrower more carefully. When we have 6 offers, why would we take an offer from a buyer who may or may not get out of underwriting?

Here is a Wachovia short sale in 95818, in the same ZIP but just the other side of Broadway from homes in Land Park. This is a 1912 Craftsman bungalow duplex, with one rental upstairs and another on the main floor. According to the seller, the rent for the main floor is $1,300 a month and $1,000 a month for the second-floor unit; however, the second floor unit is vacant. The main-floor tenant is long term.

This duplex has central heat and air, which is sometimes missing from duplexes in this area. It is situated close to the W-X freeway. But with the windows closed and the air on, the tenants probably don't hear any freeway noise. It's the location that accounts for the price. If this home could magically move to the other side of Land Park Drive, the sales price would most likely be double.

According to the Sacramento County Assessor, the square footage for the entire building is 1,930. Each unit is a two-bedroom, one-bath but the main floor unit is much bigger than the upper floor. The rooms on the main floor are spacious, plus the main floor sports a sun porch and a front porch.

The floors are tile and wood, and there are partial dual pane windows, plus, somewhat newer appliances in the first-floor kitchen. The zoning is R3A. You'll find a one-car garage in the back yard off the alley, but I don't advise trying to park in it. Drive by only. Inspect with offer.

2217 17th Street, Sacramento, CA 95818 is exclusively offered by Lyon Real Estate as a short sale at $258,000. For more information, call your Sacramento short sale agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759.

Photos: D. C. and Elizabeth Weintraub

Gardening is a great way to reduce tension during my somewhat stressful days. I work out of my home office in Land Park, showing homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, East Sacramento and Midtown. I also list Sacramento short sales all over town. So, you can imagine my days are filled with a lot of activity. Usually, I will take several breaks during the day -- distract myself by pruning bushes or dead-heading roses. It's a great stress reliever. But lately, although my stress level is down, my yard has gotten out of whack.

For example, my camellias and orange tree were overgrown. A strawberry tree on my front porch was withering without enough sunlight. So, I called my former client and excellent landscaping guy, Kevin Morisawa. He came over with his team and cleaned up my yard. The orange tree is amazing now. What was growing over the back fence, dropping last year's oranges and reaching almost two stories high now has form and character. I can see through the branches. It's beautiful.

The sellers of my new listing in Land Park recently spruced up their yard, too. The back yard has camellia trees, which look very healthy. The home has 3 bedrooms, one bath and approximately 1,270 square feet, according to the Sacramento County Assessor.

This home was built in 1950, before I was born. I tend to gravitate toward homes built before my year of birth because, although I am older than dirt, it feels more like a historic home to me if it's older than me. If I can relate to the year of a home because that's the year when I was learning how to ride a bike, for example, it doesn't seem that old to me. Everything is relative from an individual's viewpoint.

All the flooring, except for the bath, kitchen and back porch, is hardwood oak. There is a wood-burning fireplace in the living room, plus, this pretty ranch-style home features a formal dining room. Lots of people don't use a formal dining room anymore. They tend to prefer family room / kitchen combos, where all the eating and entertainment happens. Next thing you know, it will be fashionable to serve breakfast in the bathroom.

The kitchen is large, big enough for a kitchen table. The space showcases the original cabinets with scalloped trim and real wood doors. The counters have original tile, just like the original tile featured in the bath, with separate tub and shower. Some purists absolutely love the character of vintage tile, while others want to rip it out and replace it with granite. But if you buy this home, you can do whatever you want because it will be your home.

It also has (hard-to-find-in-this-price-range) central heat and air. Dual pane windows, too. Plus, a garage. If you're looking for an affordable home in Land Park, this might just be the ticket for you.

862 Vallejo Way, Sacramento, CA 95818, is exclusively offered by Lyon Real Estate at $289,000. This is NOT a short sale nor a foreclosure at that price. For a private showing, please call your Land Park agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub