Elizabeth Weintraub • Sacramento Short Sale Agent • Land Park

All week I've been receiving emails from other agents who subscribe to the Sacramento MLS. They are commenting on my marketing comments for a particular short sale and laughing. I feel it is appropriate to use a little bit of humor in real estate. That's because I am a troublemaker. See, I own it, straight up. You can't be an effective Sacramento short sale agent and not be a little bit rebellious. I tend to buck the system. It's in my nature.

When a short sale bank asked me if I would call a seller and list this short sale, I agreed. I had no idea of the condition of the property. Is condition important, you might ask? Not really, because in a short sale price is king. As long as the price reflects the condition, somebody will buy it. Of course, the price needs to satisfy the bank as well, which means somewhere near market.

I remember a water-soaked property from several years ago as a result of pipes bursting. Mold growing the size of basketballs. Seems like every few years pipes freeze in Sacramento and explode. I have another home in Orangevale that got flooded yesterday. But somebody will buy it. Eventually. People, you've gotta keep the heat on! I know that sellers of short sales want to cut expenses, especially when the home is vacant, but for crying out loud, don't turn off the heat! 

If your home floods, I'll have to be creative. You see, it's not every day a real estate agent experiences the luxury of being completely honest in her advertising. Most of the time, we are trying to lure buyers into a home. We aren't trying to sell the home online, as some people think. We're trying to get the buyer inside. Once the buyer gets inside, we hope the buyer will be overjoyed, and overcome with excitement enough to plunk down a deposit. We rely on emotions to sell homes.

However, this home is not one of those. I was expecting something completely different. The exterior is deceiving. It's actually pretty cute, stucco and stone with a fenced front yard. I was unprepared when I walked inside. You might think I can't really advertise a property this way and sell it, but that would be an incorrect assumption. I already have 2 offers. My description reads:

FIXER UPPER. SOLD 'AS IS.' FEATURING ROTTING PUMPKINS SQUISHED INTO LIVING ROOM CARPET, COMPLETE WITH A BUSTED-UP LAWN MOWER SITUATED NEXT TO THE LOVELY FIREPLACE. SOME DOORS AND KITCHEN CABINETS BASHED, AND A DRAWER MISSING, BUT YOU'LL PROBABLY WANT TO GUT THE KITCHEN ANYWAY. WARNING: DON'T OPEN THE REFRIGERATOR OR SNIFF THE MURKY WATERS OF THE ABANDONED FISH TANK.

You might not believe a cat swears, but that sweet innocent face is misleading. This is Space Commander Jackson in his space capsule.  And he has a word for some of those Sacramento short sale agents. It's two words, actually, and I can't repeat them. I told him you get further with honey than you do with vinegar, but he doesn't care.

He is personal witness to some of the crazy things that go on in a Sacramento short sale. He has watched clients break down and sob before the ink is dry on an offer, because the buyer has withdrawn the offer at the time it is returned. Or the buyer's agent has messed up so badly at inception that the contract never existed in the first place.

These are nutty times we are living in, I tell him. Every setback puts us one step closer to success. But he's not buying any of it. He says he's making a list and checking it twice.

Good thing he is not a Sacramento short sale agent. He wouldn't survive 24 hours in the business.

I am off to Hawaii today. Good thing Space Commander Jackson has a house sitter to care for him. Maybe she will wash his mouth out with soap. Aloha!

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

If I had an extra spare million bucks lying around, let me tell you, I would not spend it on a McLaren F1 supercar. I would not buy a LearJet either -- if a million bucks would even buy a LearJet these days, and I'm betting it would not. I do find it fascinating what people spend money on and how much they spend when money is no object.

Sometimes, it's like they have no brains. As though they don't deserve to be endowed with such huge sums of money because they can't spend it sensibly. A sense of social responsibility should probably accompany extreme wealth but it doesn't. Some of these people are like one never-ending reality TV show.

A guy I know who was the lead singer for the Castaways -- remember that 1960's song, Liar, Liar Your Pants Are on Fire? -- stands out in my mind. This guy used to say that if he had an extra $100,000, he would use it to sculpt his body. Breast reduction, face lift, liposuction. He described in detail how he would transform his appearance. He obviously gave this plan a lot of thought. This only problem with this idea is he wouldn't be Dick Roby anymore. But knowing him, maybe that's the idea.

If you have extra cash and are searching for a good investment, here's an excellent property to buy in the Sacramento neighborhood of the Pocket. It needs a little bit of work. It could use new carpeting, maybe a sub-floor (if damaged), paint, and updating in the baths and kitchen. It seems to be in pretty good shape but it lacks obvious TLC.

It has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. The entry is open, there is a knee wall between the entry and the living room. Curved windows in the living room. Dining is located between the living room and the kitchen, with laminate flooring.

The kitchen counters are laminate, and the refrigerator, which is somewhat newer, stays with the home. There is also a built-in dishwasher, free-standing stove and built-in microwave.

The home was built in 1985. There is a family room with a brick fireplace located on the other side of the galley kitchen, giving the entertainment area a circular floor plan. If you have cats, they could chase each other around and around.

Down the hall are 3 bedrooms, a guest bath, and a master suite bath with a shower. The separate laundry room with cabinets and hookups leads to the attached 2-car garage. In the back yard, is a covered patio and a good-sized lawn.

745 Cecilyn Way, Sacramento, CA 95831, is offered exclusively by Lyon Real Estate as a short sale at $175,000. For more information, call your Sacramento short sale agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759. For a private showing, call Linda Swanson, at 916 607 0111.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

My husband and I watched an astonishing movie last night -- thank goodness we finally got our plasma TV fixed. It didn't really have any dialogue. No subtitles. There wasn't much of a soundtrack apart from what was there at the time it was filmed.

The scenery was breathtaking. The connection you will feel to this movie and its unfolding story of sheep, cowboys, the Beartooth mountains in Montana, bears, birth, death, frustration, just the ruggedness of life and its simplicity will keep you intrigued and engaged throughout.

It's called Sweetgrass. The movie starts in spring, when the sheep are sheared and lambs are born. There is a scene toward the end in which a somewhat younger cowboy stands among decayed animal horns to place a call home on his cell. It reminded me of some short sale transactions in Sacramento. Let's just say it didn't sound like he had what it takes to be a cowboy. It made me want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him: Oh, grow up. But I suspect my husband was more empathetic than I.

Having camped in the Beartooth mountains, I know how rugged that territory is, but it's also one of the most beautiful places on the face of this earth.

There is nothing rugged about this new short sale listing in Sacramento. It has everything you want for comfort, including a garage and separate workshop building with electricity. This home was built in 1922, and it's a Craftsman bungalow, with a big front porch and a contoured pillar.

Inside, you'll find hardwood floors in the large living / dining room. The brick fireplace was rebuilt at some point, plus there is a ceiling fan and plenty of windows. Off to the right is a hallway with 2 bedrooms and bath. Straight ahead, the kitchen, a breakfast nook, a separate laundry room, and a step-down office, which leads to the back door.

The kitchen features a gas cooktop, built-in oven and a dishwasher. There is a small window over the sink that was not replaced with dual pane, probably because of its size. There is another window in the laundry room that is original as well, but all the other windows in the home are dual pane. Of course, central heat and air. It's hard to get through a Sacramento summer without air conditioning.

4132 54th Street, Sacramento, CA 95820, is offered exclusively by Lyon Real Estate as a short sale at $134,500. 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

Although a bipartisan bill has been introduced to the legislature to shorten short sale approval periods to 45 days, I wouldn't get your hopes up that short sales will be processed faster.  Congressmen Tom Rooney and Bob Andrews introduced this bill on April 12th: Prompt Decision for Qualification for Short Sale Act of 2011. I predict banks will write their own rules and slip in loopholes.

In any case, we short sale agents on the sidelines are all clapping. It would be nice if the California short sale addendum default time period came true, but I'm not holding my breath. Instead, I ask buyer's agents to give us 60 or 90 days, depending on the lender. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Except, this new listing in Campus Commons. This lender is PNC. Oh, I know you're shaking your head reading this, tisk-tsking your tongue, and if you could, you'd probably throw garlic and crosses at me to ward off this vampire. Because let's face it, PNC isn't the best short sale lender out there. OK, maybe some agents would say they are the worst. Not me, though. The one thing PNC does is respond quickly. Right it before it plunges the knife into your heart. But c'est la vie.

Here is a spacious, open, light and airy corner condo in Campus Commons that is offered as a short sale. It has 3 bedrooms -- the master is huge -- and 2 1/2 baths. There is more than 2,100 square feet in this unit. I'm telling ya, huge. The first floor has wood floors mostly throughout.

Upon entry, you are greeted by the living room. It's a room nobody uses but has a built-in wall of cabinets and shelving opposite an entire wall of mirrors. Perhaps you can find a use for this space? Study area? Hobby room? Off to the right is a formal dining area and a super cool kitchen. It's the ceiling lights that are so cool -- retro. The rest of it could use updating. It has a wet bar with a sink. A pass-through to the family room and a ton of counter space, plus a newer Bosch dishwasher.

All 3 bedrooms are located on the second floor, with the master facing Commons Drive and the other 2 on the west side. This unit comes with an attached 2-car garage and two patios. Close to the river, restaurants, transportation and Sac State.

1322 Commons Drive, Sacramento, CA 95825 is offered exclusively by Lyon Real Estate as a short sale at $275,000. For more information, please call your Sacramento short sale agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759. For a private showing, please call Barbara Dow at 916 761 7398.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

I wish my sister was of the mindset to move to Sacramento right now. Because I would tell her to buy this home. It's located just south of Curtis Park in a delightful neighborhood few know about. I've sold several homes in this area to single women home buyers. It's close to almost everything. And let's face it, where else can you buy a home this nice in such a wonderful area for less than $100,000? Not very many places in Sacramento, that's where!

This is a 3-bedroom, 2-bath home built in 1984. It's offered as a short sale. The unusual thing about this home is it has two driveways. One driveway leads to the two-car garage. The other runs along the east side of the home all the way to the big back yard. It offers RV parking.

The living area has a distressed wood floor -- OK, maybe distressed isn't the right word and it should be refinished, but what the hey. What do you want for less than $100,000? There are mostly dual pane windows throughout. It has central heat and air. The dining area is located off the galley kitchen. You'll find laundry in the garage.

4475 Pow Way, Sacramento, CA 95820 is offered exclusively by Lyon Real Estate as a short sale at $90,000. 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

It seems everywhere you look there is sobering news. For example, ZipRealty lost more than 1/4 of its agents this year as it reported a $4 million fourth-quarter loss, according to Inman News. I like working with ZipRealty agents as a Sacramento short sale agent, because they are generally fast on the turnaround and get me the documents I need from their buyers when I needed that paperwork yesterday. Not every buyer's agent in Sacramento offers that kind of service. So, I think it's sad that ZipRealty is shedding agents.

I also read that CoreLogic released a report yesterday that shows 43% of all homes in the Sacramento area are underwater homes. That's huge. The percentage statewide is 32%, meaning that one out of 3 homeowners in California owe more than their homes are worth. But don't feel so awful for Californians. In Nevada, that number is 65%. Short sales are pushing norms for the market.

Not a day goes by when somebody doesn't call me about doing a Sacramento short sale. Some of these calls are from sellers who are very unhappy with their existing short sale agent and want to know if they could list with me. Much of the time I send them right back to their agent. Because these are people who probably should not be trying to do a short sale as they either don't qualify or they refuse to comply.

What does it take to comply? In this market, it means probably making a seller contribution. Paying to close a short sale is becoming the norm in Sacramento short sales. I can say that because I close a lot of them, and that's what I see. The seller's financial situation is often immaterial. The bank might want $500 or $1,000, or more. Sellers who don't want to comply might not make a good candidate for a Sacramento short sale. That's the truth, plain and simple.

In essence, the way I see it, the banks are beginning to hold a seller's credit report hostage. They want sellers to pay. Something. Anything they can squeeze. It stinks, quite frankly. But that's the way it is. So, if you want to do a short sale and the bank settles on $500, that's what it will cost you. If keeping a foreclosure off your record isn't worth $500, then let your home go to foreclosure. In some circles, this is known as cutting off your nose to spite your face. But it's every sellers' choice to make.

Just don't shoot the messenger. I don't make the rules, and I'm not on the bank's side, for heaven's sake. I just report what's going on in Sacramento. If your Sacramento short sale agent isn't telling you to expect a bank demand, shame on that person. There's only one way to get around it: HAFA short sale. And, sadly, many sellers don't qualify for that program. See? Sobering news everywhere.

But the good news is short sales are closing. I closed a short sale in Natomas yesterday. I am closing a short sale in Rancho Cordova on Friday, and a Sacramento short sale is scheduled for Monday. And temperatures in Sacramento just might break 70 today!

Authors and their public relations people are always sending me unsolicited books, hoping that I will review them. It's one thing to find time to read a book and it's entirely another to find time to review it. But every so often I will thumb through a book looking for little gems of knowledge. I found some of those gems in Mortgage Confidential, by David Reed. Because you know what? As real estate professionals, we don't know everything even though we might want to think we do.

Did you know that when you lock a loan rate, your mortgage broker could be gambling with your lock by not locking it? I had no idea. This is not a new book, so perhaps the changes in the mortgage industry last year with the new RESPA laws put a stop to this practice, but according to David Reed, not every mortgage broker locks a loan rate when the borrower asks. He says some MLOs wait a few days to see which way rates move. If rates go down, the MLO pockets the difference and locks the rate.

Reed also tends to favor mortgage bankers over mortgage brokers because he claims that only mortgage bankers have full control over a transaction. That part is absolutely true. Although, he does defend mortgage brokers by saying those with high production / volume numbers can sometimes get priority in underwriting. Fortunately, my clients get priority with Dan Tharp at Vitek Mortgage for two reasons. #1 because I'm a top producer at Lyon Real Estate (and Lyon enjoys an affiliated business relationship with Vitek) and, #2, Vitek is a mortgage banker, not a mortgage broker.

In my world, as a Sacramento short sale agent, underwriting is crucial to the closing process.  The time spent in underwriting can make or break a short sale. There are occasions in a short sale when the bank might call to discuss an advance closing date. I received two Bank of America short sale approval letters on Thursday, both of which I knew were coming. The first negotiator asked me early February if we could close on March 11. I called the buyer's agent and asked him. He, undoubtedly, called his MLO who told him yes. I suggested that the buyer start the loan so when we received the short sale approval letter, we would be close to the closing date and could meet it.

Yesterday, I called that mortgage broker. He pleaded with me to try to get an extension from Bank of America. What the? See, this is why I don't use or recommend XYZ Mortgage Company, and I told him so. He probably did not like to hear the truth. Well, I didn't want to hear that the borrower was coming into their offices to bring the MLO more documentation that should have been submitted weeks ago, or that this particular MLO can't get an appraisal turnaround in 3 days.

Before you hire a mortgage broker or mortgage banker, ask about performance, guarantees and underwriting. Look for an on-time delivery record. Especially if you're buying a short sale. And pick up a copy of Mortgage Confidential.

Before I get into a conversation about making an offer on a short sale a week prior to the foreclosure auction, I want to talk about plastic surgery. Specifically, a face lift. Oh, I know you've all seen those Sacramento Magazine articles about plastic surgery. I mean, it's the main reason to pick up Sacramento Magazine, right? Except for the Sac Mag edition with all those paid advertisements for Master's Club, which I get suckered into paying for every year. And why? So I can have my photo plastered among a bunch of other agents who are all hoping they have the guts to go under the knife on that very special day in our lives when we look in the mirror and say, yes, I should have some work done on my face. Well, I've got new for you. Photoshop is easier.

Maybe I'm the only person in the universe who did not know that a face lift goes like this: The doctor draws a line across your scalp from ear to ear. Then, the doctor cuts into your head along that line and under the skin toward your nose, yanking and peeling back half of your face down to your eyes. Muscles are cut and removed. Those pesky muscles that cause wrinkles. Then, the skin is stretched back, excess cut off, stapled, and sewn to your head.

You spend a month sleeping in an upright position. After three weeks, maybe you can eat a tuna sandwich. Because you can't get your mouth open wide enough to eat a sandwich until then. Stuff oozes from your face for a while. You might need a drain tube. But eventually all the swelling goes down, the black and blue crap goes away and you turn into a person you don't recognize when you look in the mirror. I suspect that -- as vain as I am -- I am not brave enough for this process.

But I am brave enough to handle a short sale offer less than 10 days away from a trustee's auction. I wish we had a real offer. Oh, I've told the buyer's agent how much the bank wants. I know how much the bank wants because I've already submitted 3 offers to the bank. Each has been rejected in favor of a certain price. It's not a bad price, in fact, it's about $50,000 under the comparable sales.

The first agent to write an offer on this Sacramento short sale threatened and yelled at me. "This is going to foreclosure," he screamed, waving his fists in front of his cell phone, I imagine. The second agent carried on and on about all the work that the home needed to measure up to his buyer's expectations. The third agent just submitted a lowball offer, shrugging her shoulders and lamenting "what are ya gonna do about an investor?" And that's how we got to the point of being 10 days away from a trustee's sale, yet within the Freddie Mac eviction guidelines that allow for eviction just before Christmas.

But the buyer's agent was unable to explain to her buyer how to write an offer on a short sale that will actually close escrow. She also thought we would get short sale approval in 5 days because "the bank has to do something to stop the auction." How could she possibly think that? Yup, she has those initials after her name, indicating she has successfully completed some sort of short sale training or certification course in short sales. I keep hoping these courses will turn out agents who can handle short sales, but the chances of that happening are about the same as me getting my hands on Mark Twain's Autobiography any time soon. What the bank is likely to do with an offer is postpone the trustee's auction. It won't approve the short sale in that time frame.

If the buyer had only submitted an offer with a sales price the bank will accept, we'd be going into escrow. Instead, we are simply faxing this offer to the bank. If only to keep my seller from being tossed out on his ear just before Christmas. And you can bet your new Weight Watcher Points-Plus that we'll kick this buyer to the curb the minute we get an offer the bank will take. Hey, did you hear that Weight Watchers has totally revamped its Point system? That's another blog for another day.

Photo: Big Stock Photo

Reading Mike Watson's blog this morning gave me the inspiration for mine. That's one of the great things about belonging to an online group like this -- apart from the fact that if AR would have me as a member, maybe I shouldn't belong -- but I get great ideas from other writers. In one of my Sacramento short sales last week, the seller asked her lawyer if she could apply for the HAFA short sale program. That's because there are many benefits to the HAFA short sale program such as:

• No deficiency judgments
• $3,000 relocation allowance
• Foreclosure process stopped
• No required seller contribution

Now, not every Sacramento short sale seller needs a lawyer. In fact, many absolutely do not need to hire a lawyer to do a short sale, but they absolutely, positively should obtain legal and tax advice upfront. But this seller had hard-money loans and was concerned about protection. Her lawyer had insisted on putting the home on the market right away.

Well, in the past I've had a few lenders such as Bank of America convert regular short sales into HAFA short sales, but that practice is going away. This was a PNC short sale, and PNC said no can do. It won't convert the short sale to HAFA because we've already submitted an offer. The only way to do it is to cancel the offer and submit to HAFA, or forget about HAFA all together.

When I'm not being a Sacramento short sale agent and dealing with HAFA, I'm running around Old Sacramento (above) with my sister, Margie, from Minneapolis. It's been a lot of fun hauling my sister around my neighborhood in Land Park and showing her how delightful Sacramento is, including why, maybe, she should consider moving here. Ah, today we are going for facial treatments in Land Park. Let me tell ya, life doesn't get any better than that.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub, Old Sacramento, shot with BlackBerry Bold